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ESSENTIALS 


NON-ESSENTIALS    IN    RELIGION 


"  Res  ipsa  qiue  nunc  religio  Chiistiana  nuncupatiir,  erat 
apud  autiquos,  nee  unqiiam  defuit,  ab  initio,  genere  huniano, 
quousque  Christus  veuisset  in  carnem,  unde  vera  religio  qiue 
jam  erat,  coepit  appellari  Christiana." 

St.  Augustine.     Retract.  I:  13- 


NoN-EssEr^'M.'s'^iN  Religion. 


SIX  LECTURES 

DELIVERED     IN     THE    MUSIC     HALL,     BOSTON,     ^ 
BY 

JAMES    FREEMAN    CLARKE, 

AUTHOR    OF    "orthodoxy:     ITS    TRUTHS    AND    ERRORS,"     "  STEPS    OF 

BELIEF,"     "ten    great    RELIGIONS,"     "CHRISTIAN    DOCTRINE 

OF    PRAYER,"    "common    SENSE   IN    RELIGION,"    ETC. 


BOSTON: 

AMERICAN    UNITARIAN    ASSOCIATION, 

7  Tremont  Place. 

1878. 


Cojjynyht  hy 

American  Unitarian  Association. 

1877. 


Press  of  John  Wilson  and  Son. 


These  Six  Lectures  loere  deUoered  in  the  Music 
Hall.,  in  Boston,  this  winter  (1877),  at  the  re- 
quest of  the  America.n  Unitarian  Association  ; 
and,  as  they  seem  to  have  met  the  needs  of  many 
minds,  are  now  published  as  they  were  delivered, 

with  scarcely  any  cdterations. 

J.  F.  a 

Boston,  Dec.  14,  1877. 


CONTENTS. 


I. 

PAGE 

Faith     and     Belief.       Essential     Belief 

concerning    god 1 

n. 

Christ  and  Christianity 33 

III. 
The  Bible 57 

IV. 

The  Church  and  Worship 81 

V. 

Christian  Experience 103 

YL 
The  Future  Life 1^7 


ESSENTIALS 


NON-ESSENTIALS    IN    RELIGION. 


I. 

THE  DISTINCTION  BETWEEN  FAITH 
AND    BELIEF. 

T  PROPOSE  to  speak  of  essentials  and  non- 
-*-  essentials  in  religion.  My  purpose  is,  not 
to  defend  a  creed  or  a  sect,  but  to  point  out  that 
common  ground  of  essential  religion  on  which 
aU  good  men  can  stand  side  b}'  side.  For  it  is 
mostly  about  non-essentials  that  men  differ :  on 
what  is  most  vital  or  important,  the}'  usually 
agree.  If,  therefore,  I  can  show  the  essential 
unity  of  faith,  or  Ufe,  which  underlies  all  seeming 
opposition  and  contradiction  of  sects  or  creeds,  I 
shall  do  a  more  important  work  than  by  making 
the  most  triumphant  argument  in  favor  of  my 
own  opinions,  or  against  those  of  other  sects  or 
parties. 

1 


2  FAITH  AND   BELIEF. 

I  therefore  intend  tf)  show  what  are  the  essen- 
tials and  what  the  non-essentials  in  the  faith  of 
the  Christian  church  concerning  God,  Christ,  the 
Bible,  the  Church,  Christian  experience,  and  the 
Future  Life. 

I  know  that,  to  man}^,  all  such  attempts  seem 
hazardous.  Religion  is  so  important  a  matter 
that  the}^  cannot  believe  an}'  thing  belonging  to 
it  to  be  unessential.  The  Holy  Spirit  sanctifies 
to  their  minds  every  sacrament  of  their  church, 
ever}'  word  of  their  liturgy,  every  part  of  theu* 
creed,  every  sentence  in  their  Bible.  It  seems  to 
them  sacrilege"  to  say  or  to  hint  that  any  of  these 
gi-eat  helps  to  religion  are  not  essential  to  it.  If 
not  the  very  citadel,  they  are  at  least  outworks  to 
be  defended  to  the  last,  as  a  necessary  protection 
to  the  citadel. 

The  inevitable  result  of  this  is  division  and 
strife  in  the  church.  To  each  sect  and  party  its 
own  special  forms  of  faith  and  worship  seem  not 
only  useful,  but  \T.tal :  it  is  dangerous  to  permit 
any  other.  The  Episcopahan  thinks  that  with- 
out bishops  there  is  no  church ;  the  Presbyterian 
clings  to  every  chapter  and  section  of  the  Assem- 
bly's Catechism ;  the  Baptist  cannot  take  the 
Lord's   Supper  with   the   most   saintly  Christian 


FAITH  AXD   BELIEF.  3 

who  has  not  been  immersed.  There  can  be  but 
one  truth,  one  Lord,  one  faith,  one  baptism,  say 
the}-,  and  that  is  ours.  We  honestly  believe  that 
we  are  right,  and  therefore  we  must  believe  others 
to  be  wrong.  Can  two  walk  together  unless  they 
are  agreed? 

Paul  said  of  himself  and  his  fellow-Christians, 
"  AVe  have  this  treasure  in  earthen  vessels;" 
but  to  the  majorit}'  of  Christian  believers  now, 
the  vessel  which  contains  their  faith  is  as  impor- 
tant as  the  faith  itself.  Because  I  drink  the  water 
of  salvation  out  of  a  Unitarian  glass  instead  of 
a  Methodist  cup  or  an  Episcopal  vase,  it  is 
thought  that  I  cannot  be  partaking  of  the  water 
of  life. 

Nearh^  twenty- five  centuries  *ago,  ^sop  told  the 
stor}-  of  the  twigs  which  could  not  be  broken 
when  united  together,  but  were  easily  snapped 
when  separated.  The  Christian  church,  in  its 
numerous  divisions,  still  illustrates  the  sad  moral 
of  that  fable.  Here,  in  Boston,  we  have  one 
hundred  and  eighty  Protestant  churches,  but  they 
are  divided  into  eight  or  ten  different  sects,  which 
work  entirely  independently  of  each  other.  Sup- 
pose they  should  form  one  grand  union  for  Chris- 
tian work,  to  attack  the  evils  around  us.     What 


4  FAITH  AND   BELIEF. 

an  immeiiso  influence  for  good  might  these  one 
hundred  and  eighty  churches  exercise,  if  they  co- 
operated against  the  evils  of  pauperism,  intem- 
perance, hcentiousness,  ignorance,  and  crime ! 
Suppose  they  had  one  central  building,  to  which 
delegates  from  these  churches  should  come  to 
consider  and  act  as  one  body  in  making  Boston 
more  pure,  sweet,  and  safe.  The  Baptists  might 
still  immerse ;  the  Episcopalians  keep  their  bish- 
ops and  liturg}^,  —  but,  being  thus  united  in  one 
body  against  practical  evils,  how  sure  and  soon 
might  not  God's  Kingdom  come  among  us  ! 

The  difficulty  in  the  way  of  this  consummation 
is  that  the  church  still  confounds  essentials  and 
non-essentials.  There  being  confessedl}'  but  one 
end,  one  thing  nee'dful,  as  the  object  of  all  rehg- 
ion,  thev  suppose  that  there  can  be  but  one  true 
and  right  way  to  that  end ;  though  Paul  has 
taught  that  there  are  differences  of  administra- 
tion, but  one  I-^ord,  and  diversities  of  rperation, 
but  one  God. 

A  great  cit}-,  like  Xew  York  or  Chicago,  has 
but  one  purpose,  —  the  bringing  together  of  those 
within  and  those  without  for  mutual  advantage. 
But  each  city  has  numerous  avenues  by  which  it 
is  entered.      There  are  roads  which  concentrate 


FAITH  A^D   BELIEF.  5 

toward  it  from  all  quarters.  There  are  numerous 
lines  of  railroads,  which  bring-  to  it  long  trains  of 
passengers  and  freight,  entering  the  cit}^  on  all 
sides  ;  steamers  come  to  it  by  the  lake,  the  river, 
the  sea.  But  we  imagine  that  the  vast  cit}'  of  God, 
the  heavenly  Jerusalem,  has  onl}'  one  entrance, 
and  that,  the  turnpike,  where  we  collect  the  toll. 

The  Lord  has  made  his  children  very  different 
from  each  other,  and,  being  thus  different,  he  has 
provided  many  different  ways  hx  which  the}'  shall 
come  to  him. 

Other  and  very  great  evils  arise  from  this  want 
of  religious  perspective  which  confounds  the  spirit 
with  the  letter,  the  substance  with  the  form,  the 
permanent  with  the  transient,  the  kernel  with  the 
shell,  the  soul  with  the  bodv.  The  spirit  and 
substance  of  religion  are  one  and  eternal ;  the 
same  3'esterday,  to-day,  and  for  ever.  The  form 
changes,  the  bod}'  decays  and  dies,  the  kernel  in 
its  growth  shatters  its  shell.  The  law  of  change 
appUes  to  the  bod}'  of  religion,  as  to  that  of  all 
other  human  interests.  If  religion  in  its  spirit  is 
divine  and  eternal,  in  its  body  it  is  human  and 
changing.  Every  church  form,  ritual,  sacrament, 
is  human,  therefore  temporary.  Every  church- 
creed  is  elaborated  by  the  wit  of  man,  therefore 


6  FAITH  AND   BELIEF. 

none  can  last  for  ever.  The  Christian  church 
must  sa}^,  as  the  Apostle  Paul  said,  "When  I 
was  a  child,  I  spake  as  a  child,  I  understood  as  a 
child,  I  thought  as  a  child  ;  but,  when  I  became  a 
man,  1  put  away  childish  things."  This  great 
apostle,  possessing  one  of  the  most  majestic  of 
human  intellects,  declared  that  his  own  creed, 
precious  as  it  was  to  him,  was  to  pass  awa}',  and 
be  forgotten.  "  I  know  in  part,"  said  he  ;  "  and 
I  teach  in  part.  But,  when  that  which  is  perfect 
is  come,  then  that  which  is  in  part  shall  be  done 
away*  For  now  we  see,  as  in  a  mirror,  darkly 
[referring  to  the  metallic  mirrors  of  his  time], 
but  then  face  to  face."  The  light  of  the  intellect 
is  reflected  light,  therefore  we  call  it  reflection ; 
hereafter  it  will  be  intuition.  From  the  accurac}'' 
of  each  man's  thought,  even  the  wisest,  there  are 
to  be  made  three  deductions :  we  must  first  cor- 
rect it  for  the  human  equation,  since  all  belief  is 
relative ;  then  we  must  correct  it  again  for  the 
personal  equation,  since  each  man's  idiosyncrasy 
colors  his  thought ;  and  finall}'  we  must  correct 
it  for  the  aberration  produced  by  progress  and 
development.  It  was  a  great  discover^'  in  astron- 
omy, when  Bradley  found  that  the  progress  of  the 
earth  through  space  caused  an  aberration  of  the 


FAITH  AND   BELIEF.  7 

light  coming  from  the  stars,  and  that  this  aberra- 
tion must  be  allowed  for.  So  we  must  allow  for 
the  aben-ation  of  light  in  our  own  minds,  caused 
by  the  fact  that  we  are  in  progi-ess.  The  individ- 
ual, as  he  grows,  puts  away  childish  things  ;  and 
so  society  and  humanity,  moving  swifth'  forward 
in  the  vast  orbit  of  its  heaven-ordained  progi'ess 
thi-ough  the  ages  and  eternities,  must  also  put 
away  its  childish  things,  and  for  ever  be  learning 
more  and  more  the  language  of  manl}'  thought 
and  manl}'  piety. 

The  soul  which  has  no  singleness  of  aim  is  dis- 
tracted and  di^^ded,  and  loses  its  power.  If  the 
CA'e  is  single,  the  whole  bod}'  is  full  of  light ;  if 
the  eye  is  double,  the  whole  body  is  full  of  dark- 
ness. It  is  so  in  ever}'  thing  else.  It  is  so  also 
in  religion.  The  superstition  which  makes  second- 
ary things  of  equal  importance  with  the  piimary 
clouds  and  degrades  the  soul.  When  Jesus  came 
to  the  house  of  the  Jewish  maidens  and  saw  Mar- 
tha's mind  distracted  with  a  thousand  cares,  while 
Mary,  recognizing  what  was  then  of  supreme  im- 
portance, used  this  great  opportunity  by  devoting 
herself  solely  to  listening  to  the  divine  truth  which 
had  entered  her  home,  Jesus  saw  in  it  the  images 
of  dissipation  and  of  singleness  of  soul.   ' '  Martha, 


8  FAITH  AND   BELIEF. 

Martha,  thou  art  careful  and  troubled  about  many 
things ;  but  one  thing  is  needful."  The  church 
has  always  had  its  man}'  Marthas  and  its  few 
Marys,  —  its  Marthas,  careful  and  troubled  about 
creeds  and  rituals,  sacraments  and  sabbaths, 
priesthood  and  altar ;  and  its  Marys,  not  indeed 
wishing  that  these  should  be  left  undone,  but  never 
letting  them  interfere  with  the  one  thing  needful, 
—  love  to  God  and  love  to  man. 

To  all  this  what  do  the  Marthas  reply?  \Vhat 
did  the  original  Martha  repl}'  to  Jesus  ?  Probably 
she  said,  "It  is  all  A^ery  well  for  Mar}'  to  be  neg- 
lecting her  duties,  in  order  to  listen  to  3'ou  ;  but 
who  is  to  help  me  get  the  dinner? "  80  the  Mar- 
thas in  the  church  repl}^ :  "  It  is  all  very  well  to 
say  that  love  is  the  one  thing  needful ;  that  love 
fulfils  the  whole  law ;  that  he  who  dwells  in  love 
dwells  in  God,  and  God  in  hun.  But  how  are  w^e 
to  get  that  love,  except  we  use  the  means?  He 
who  wishes  the  end  wishes  the  means?  Piety 
and  charity  are,  we  admit,  the  onl}^  essential  ends  ; 
but  the  means  are  equaU}'  essential.  It  is  essen- 
tial, in  order  to  have  love,  to  be  in  the  true  church  ; 
for  out  of  this  there  is  no  salvation.  It  is  essen- 
tial to  have  the  true  belief,  for  we  are  saved  b}' 
the  word  of  truth,  and  without  faith  no  man  can 


FAITH  AND   BELIEF.  9 

be  justified.  It  is  uecessaiy  also  to  be  converted  ; 
for  imless  a  man  is  born  again,  he  cannot  see  the 
kingdom  of  God. 

In  future  lectures,  I  shall  discuss  the  essentials 
and  the  non-essentials  in  regard  to  the  church  and 
conversion,  I  now  ask  \o\\  to^  attend  to  this  sec- 
ond point  made  b}^  our  friends,  the  Christian 
Marthas.  The}'  speak  thus:  ''The  New  Testa- 
ment sa3's  we  are  justified  b}'  faith.  When  the 
Apostle  was  called  upon  b}'  the  jailer  to  tell  him 
what  he  must  do  to  be  saved,  he  did  not  reply, 
'  Love  God  and  man,'  but  he  said,  '  Believe  on 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  thou  shalt  be  saved.' 
And  Paul  was  right,  for  that  was  the  step  he 
could  take  at  once,  and  by  an  immediate  act  of 
obedience  accept  Christ  as  his  Saviour ;  then, 
having  done  that,  he  would  reach  at  last  the  end, 
which  is  love.  Love,  therefore,  is  the  essential 
end  ;  but  a  true  faith  is  the  no  less  essential  means 
to  that  end."     This  is  their  argument. 

If  this  be  true,  and  if  a  true  faith  means  a  cor- 
rect belief  of  the  great  doctrines  of  Christianity, 
then  it  follows  that  the  one  thing  needful  for  us 
is,  first  of  all,  to  stud}'  theology,  in  order  to  find 
out  what  the  true  and  vital  doctrines  are.  AYe 
ought   carefully  to  read  the  innumerable  contro- 


10  F Air  11   AND   BELIEF. 

versies  about  the  Trinit}^  Total  Depravit}',  the 
Atonement,  the  Deit}'  of  Christ,  and  the  Wa}'  of 
Salvation.  Until  this  is  clone,  and  done  correctl}', 
and  the  true  belief  is  reached,  there  is  no  safety. 
How  much  mental  miser}',  anxiet}',  gloom,  de- 
spair, have  come  from  this  doctrine  that  a  sound 
belief  on  such  points  as  these  is  essential  to  the 
salvation  of  the  soul !  Moreover,  the  moment 
3'ou  assume  that  an}'  accurate  statement  of  beUef 
is  essential,  3'ou  can  find  no  place  where  you  can 
logicall}'  stop.  For  in  an}'  system  of  doctrine 
every  part  is  logically  dependent  on  every  other 
part,  and  the  whole  must  stand  or  fall  together. 
As  an  illustration  of  this,  let  me  state  a  fact  from 
ecclesiastical  histor}-.  The  Presbyterian  church 
of  the  United  States  has  a  creed,  and  that  creed 
is  the  Assembly's  Catechism.  Now,  parts  of  that 
statement  are  so  behind  and  below  the  convictions 
reached  by  modern  thought  that  it  has  been  held 
very  loosely  in  many  places,  and  accepted  merely 
for  substance  of  doctrine.  In  the  year  1837,  an 
earnest  theologian,  Robert  J.  Breckinridge,  in- 
duced the  General  Assembly  to  excommunicate 
four  synods,  containing  some  forty  thousand  mem- 
bers, for  heresy ;  the  error  being  in  relation  to 
the  orio-in  of  sin.     The  behef  of  the  Old  School 


FAITH  AND   BELIEF.  11 

was  this :  that  God  could  have  presented  sin,  but 
would  not  do  it,  because  it  was  essential  to  a 
moral  sj^stem.  The  en-or  of  the  New  School,  for 
which  the  synods  were  excommunicated,  was  in 
belie\'ing  that  God  would  have  prevented  sin,  but 
could  not,  because  it  was  essential  to  a  moral  S3-S- 
tem.  .  Now  this  distinction  seems  to  us  a  small 
matter ;  but  a  trained  theologian  sees  that  it  is 
essential  to  the  integrit}^  of  the  whole  s^'stem  that 
the  ' '  could  "  should  precede  the  ' '  would  "  in  this 
statement.  So,  when  a  single  leading  proposition 
of  a  creed  is  made  essential,  ever}'  minute  infer- 
ence becomes  also  essential.  A  creed  is  hke  a 
chain,  whose  strength  is  measured  b}^  the  strength 
of  the  weakest  part.  An  acute  theologian  is  like 
a  skilled  engineer  building  a  dam,  who  knows  that, 
if  he  leaves  the  smallest  leak  in  an}^  part,  the 
whole  dam  will  be  finall}^  swept  away. 

What,  then,  is  our  reply  to  this  argument  ?  We 
admit  that  faith  is  an  essential  element  of  human 
progress,  —  essential  as  a  means  to  the  growth  and 
perfection  of  man.  But  we  den}'  that  belief  is 
the  same  as  faith,  and  we  denj'  that  the  behef  of 
any  proposition  is  essential  to  human  salvation. 
We  fiilly  agree  with  John  Wesley-,  who  once  said 
that  "  a  string  of  opinions  is  no  more  Christian 


12  FAITH  AND   BELIEF. 

faith  than  a  string  of  beads  is  Christian  prac- 
tice." 

When  the  jailer  at  Phihppi  believed  on  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  what  was  his  theological  belief  ? 
What  were  his  opinions  about  the  Trinit}^  or  the 
Atonement?  His  faith  was  simply  a  trust  in  the 
superior  power  and  goodness  of  that  being  of 
whom  these  wonderful  persons  before  him  declared 
themselves  the  messengers.  The  servant,  he 
thought,  could  not  be  greater  than  the  master ; 
nor  he  that  was  sent  gi-eater  than  he  that  sent  him. 
Therefore,  he  was  willing  to  trust  to  this  new  ad- 
vent of  hght  and  power,  and  joins  this  persecuted 
bod}^  whose  souls  were  so  full  of  calm  and  joy, 
and  who  seemed  so  protected  by  a  present  Provi- 
dence. His  faith  was  trust  in  something  higher 
and  better  than  himself. 

What  was  the  theological  belief  of  those  whom 
Jesus  healed?  What  was  the  creed  of  the  sinful 
woman  whom  he  forgave,  and  to  whom  he  said, 
' '  Thy  faith  hath  saved  thee  ;  go  in  peace "  ? 
What  were  the  doctrinal  opinions  of  the  Roman 
soldier,  of  whom  he  declared,  "  I  have  not  found 
so  great  faith,  no,  not  in  Israel"  ?  What  were 
the  speculative  dogmas  held  by  all  those  whose 
faith  is  commemorated  in  the  eleventh  chapter  of 


FAITH  AND   BELIEF.  13 

the  Hebrews?  'What  were  the  views  of  Abel,  in 
regard  to  the  Trinity?  Was  Enoch  a  Calvinist  or 
an  Arminian  ?  What  doctrines  were  held  by  Noah 
and  Abraham  and  Sarah,  Isaac,  Jacob,  Gideon, 
Barak,  and  Samson?  In  all  these  cases,  what  was 
their  faith  but  this :  a  looking  up  with  trust  to 
something  higher  than  themselves ;  better  than 
themselves ;  something  above  this  visible  and 
sensible  world  ;  a  confidence  that,  besides  all  that 
is  seen  and  temporal,  there  is  something  divine, 
invisible,  eternal?  This  was  their  faith,  and  this 
is  the  substance  of  all  faith.  For  this  their  faith, 
Samson  and  Gideon  are  commended  as  examples 
to  us  all. 

This  faith  we  believe  and  know  to  be  essential 
to  progress.  We  can  onl}^  rise  to  a  higher  plane 
by  ti'usting  in  some  power  better  than  ourselves. 
In  order  to  go  up,  we  must  look  up. 

God  gives,  in  the  morning  of  life,  a  great  pro- 
vision of  faith  as  an  outfit.  Little  children  are 
full  of  trust,  and  by  this  trust  the}'  learn  rapidh\ 
Because  men  and  women  are  larger  and  stronger 
than  themselves,  they  naturally  look  upon  them  as 
knowing  every  thing  and  able  to  do  every  thing. 
They  ma}^  often  be  deceived  and  misled  by  their 
infantile   creduht}* ;    but   without    it    they   could 


14  f^AlTH  AND   BELIEF. 

never  make  such  rapid  progress.  Undeterred 
either  b}'  vanit}'  or  doubt,  the}'  ask  a  thousand 
questions  every  da}'  of  every  one  about  them. 
This  perpetual  looking  up  for  guidance,  knowl- 
edge, help,  is  what  makes  the  soul  of  a  child 
unfold,  as  the  buds  open  in  the  warm  airs  of 
spring. 

As  children  grow  up,  they  do  not  outgrow  the 
need  of  perpetual  faith  in  their  fellow-men.  The 
more  highly  civilized  society  becomes,  the  more 
men  are  obliged  to  trust  in  each  other.  Savage 
life  is  filled  with  distrust  and  suspicion.  The 
backwoodsman  trusts  in  himself,  and  depends  on 
himself  to  supply  his  own  wants.  But  as  society 
is  developed  through  its  different  stages,  from 
the  savage  state  to  that  of  the  hunter,  from  the 
hunter's  life  to  the  pastoral  state,  from  that  to 
the  highly  complex  condition  of  modern  society 
in  Christian  lands,  mutual  trust  increases.  We 
sleep  in  peace,  trusting  to  the  protection  of  the 
pohce.  We  go  to  our  affairs,  trusting  our  homes 
to  the  guardianship  of  the  laws.  \sq  trust  in  the 
merchant  to  sell  us  the  article  we  need ;  to  our 
physician  to  understand  and  treat  aright  our  ill- 
ness ;  to  our  lawyer  to  defend  our  rights  when 
assailed.    All  our  society  is  built  on  the  perpetual 


FAITH  AND   BELIEF.  15 

faith  of  man  in  man.  We  walk  by  faith  all  day 
long.  True,  there  is  deception,  knavery,  cheat- 
ing ;  but  society  would  stand  still  to-morrow  if 
there  were  not  a  hundred  times  as  much  truth  as 
falsehood  in  the  transactions  of  common  Ufe. 
When  we  trust  our  brother,  whom  we  have  seen, 
we  are  learning  to  trust  God,  whom  we  have  not 
seen.  Our  faith  in  man  is  reall}'  faith  in  the  great 
laws  of  human  nature :  it  is  faith  that  humanity 
is  essentially  good,  not  evil,  made  b}'  God  and  a 
manifestation  of  him. 

The  difference  between  faith  and  belief  is  ob- 
vious, and  the  distinction  very  important.  Belief 
is  purely  an  intellectual  act,  the  result  of  argu- 
ment and  evidence.  Where  the  evidence  is  before 
us,  behef  is  involuntary.  The  object  of  behef  is 
a  proposition,  and  there  are  no  degrees  about  it. 
We  either  believe  the  proposition  or  we  do  not. 
If  we  hesitate  about  it,  and  are  not  quite  ready 
to  assent  to  it,  then  we  do  not  j-et  believe  it.  And 
a  belief  does  not  necessarily  make  a  man  any 
better.  The  devils  believe  and  tremble.  You 
find  good  men  and  bad  men  beheving  all  sorts  of 
creeds.  Some  men  are  uninfluenced  b}^  the  noblest 
creeds,  though  they  assent  to  them ;  some  are 
uninjured  by  the  lowest  and  basest. 


16  FAITH  AND   BELIEF. 

In  all  these  respects,  bow  different  is  faith  ! 
This  involves  an  intellectual  element  indeed,  for 
we  trust  in  some  power  or  person  whom  we  know. 
He  that  cometh  to  God  or  to  man  must  believe 
that  they  are.  But  faith  has  also  a  moral  element, 
for  we  trust  in  good,  not  in  evil.  Hope  is  also 
involved  in  it.  We  have  faith  in  something  bet- 
ter than  we  3'et  see.  Love  is  in  it,  for  we  do  not 
give  our  faith  except  where  we  also  give  some- 
thing of  our  affection.  And,  moreover,  faith  is 
an  act.  We  give  ourselves  in  trust,  we  lean,  we 
confide,  we  repose  on  the  good  which  we  know 
and  to  which  we  look  up.  And  this  faith,  like  all 
other  acts,  increases  and  strengthens  b}-  habit. 
We  can  have  a  little  faith,  and  we  can  acquire 
more.  And  this  trust  in  something  higher,  better, 
nobler,  wiser,  always  makes  us  better  ourselves. 
B}^  looking  up,  we  rise.  And  thus  we  realize  the 
truth  of  those  hues  of  Daniel  which  Coleridge 
was  so  fond  of  quoting :  — 

"  Unless  above  liimself  lie  can 
Erect  himself,  how  poor  a  thing  is  man !  " 

Individual  man  is  weak,  ignorant,  liable  to  de- 
ceive and  be  deceived.  But  the  human  nature  of 
which  he  partakes  is  higher  than  he,  —  better  than 
any  individual.  —  for  it  is  that  common  human 


FAITH  AND   BELIEF.  17 

nature  which  contains  the  law  of  progress,  and 
the  power  of  an  endless  development  upward  and 
onward.  Our  faith  in  man  is  therefore  still  the 
same.  It  is  looking  up  to  something  higher.  It 
is  trust  in  man  not  only  as  he  is,  but  as  he  is 
made  and  meant  to  be.  It  is  the  substance  of 
things  hoped  for,  the  evidence  of  things  not  seen. 

But  the  most  wonderful  fact  of  human  nature 
remains  to  be  stated.  It  is  man's  rehgious  nature 
and  his  rehgious  faith. 

Wherever  man  exists,  he  believes  in  God.  His 
behef  may  be  of  a  low  and  rudimentar}'  kind,  but 
it  is  there.  A  creature  of  time  and  sense,  sur- 
rounded with  the  engrossing  interests  of  this  life, 
this  life  never  satisfies  him.  He  looks  out  of  the 
seen  into  the  unseen,  looks  up  out  of  the  sunlight 
of  this  sensible  world  into  the  mj^stery  of  the  all- 
surrounding  world  outside  of  space  and  time. 

"Placed  on  this  isthmus  of  a  middle  state, 
A  being  darkly  wise  and  rudely  great ; 
Chaos  of  thought  and  passion  all  confused  ; 
Still  by  himself  abused,  or  disabused  ; 
Created  half  to  rise  and  half  to  fall, 
Great  Lord  of  all  things,  yet  a  prey  to  all ; 
Sole  judge  of  truth,  in  endless  error  hurled, 
The  glory,  jest,  and  riddle  of  the  world." 

2 


18  FAITH  AXD   BELIEF. 

Yes,  man  is  all  that,  but  something  more. 
Some  convictions,  some  ideas,  deep  rooted  in  his 
inmost  nature,  hold  him  fast  to  the  infinite  and 
eternal.  He  looks  back  through  the  long  geologic 
ages,  but  the}'  cannot  content  his  reason  :  he  finds 
an  eternity'  behind  them  all.  He  looks  through 
the  immensities  of  the  universe  to  the  faint  star- 
clusters  at  frightful  distances  in  the  enormous 
space  which  surrounds  our  little  globe,  and  his 
reason  commands  him  to  beheve  in  an  infinite 
space  be3'ond.  He  looks  up,  in  imagination, 
through  a  long  vista  of  intelhgences  higher  than 
man,  angels  and  archangels,  cherubim  and  sera- 
phim. Analog}'  teaches  him  to  beheve  that  higher 
than  thought  can  climb,  or  the  fanc}'  conceive, 
or  the  understanding  comprehend,  there  must  be 
series  above  series,  rank  above  rank  of  powers ; 
a  hierarch}'  of  spiritual  beings  extending  without 
end  up  to  the  throne  of  God.  But  he  cannot  rest 
in  this  conception :  he  must  go  beyond,  and  gaze 
on  the  one  great  central  power  of  the  universe,  — 
above  all  height,  below  all  depth,  —  the  Almighty, 
the  Eternal,  the  One  above.  He  is  so  made  that 
he  can  never  stop  in  any  lower  worship,  but  passes 
up  through  all  mythologies  of  old  rehgion  to  the 
First  Cause,  the  perfect  Being. 


FAITH  AND   BELIEF.  19 

This  is  the  natural  faith  of  man,  not  of  one  sect 
or  creed  ;  and  the  primal  faith,  which  Jesus  came 
to  restore  and  to  exalt.  Abraham  saw  his  day, 
because  Abraham  believed  essentiall}'  in  the  truth 
of  Jesus.  Something  of  his  da}^  was  also  seen  b}- 
Socrates,  b}'  Zoroaster,  b}'  Confucius,  b}' Buddha, 
for  the}^  also  hfted  their  race  to  a  higher  faith  in 
some  unspoken  majesty  of  truth  and  goodness ; 
some  radiance  seen,  though  but  in  a  glass  darklj^, 
of  the  holy  spirit  of  truth.  This  faith,  at  least, 
the}'  all  had  in  an  unseen  Power,  higher  than 
any  thing  seen,  who  would  help  those  who  came  to 
Him. 

I  am  a  transcendentahst.  I  do  not  believe  that 
man's  senses  tell  him  all  he  knows.  Man  is  more 
certain  of  those  truths  which  come  to  him  through 
his  reason  than  of  those  which  come  through  his 
senses.  "All  his  knowledge,"  according  to  the 
statement  of  Immanuel  Kant,  "  all  his  knowledge 
begins  iciih  sensible  experience,  but  all  does  not 
come  from  experience."  He  knows  the  ideal 
reahties  received  through  reason  better  than  he 
knows  those  transmitted  through  sense.  He 
knows  cause  and  effect,  phenomenon  and  sub- 
stance, right  and  wrong,  the  infinite  and  the  eter- 
nal, his  own  identity,  his  power  of  free  choice. 


20  FAITH  AND   BELIEF. 

These  ideas  are  divineh'  created  witliin  liim,  di- 
vinely rooted  in  the  very  texture  of  his  reason. 
By  the  unalterable  and  majestic  laws  of  nature, 
which  pervade  the  world,  unchanging  and  per- 
sistent, God  has  bound  the  outward  universe  to 
himself,  and  estabUshed  all  its  variet}'  into  one 
vast  order.  And  by  the  ideas,  equall}^  fixed  and 
unchanging,  in  the  soul  of  man,  he  holds  fast 
to  himself  ever}'  created  intelhgence  in  a  similar 
unit}',  and  is  the  centre  of  the  visible  and  invisible 
universe. 

To  this  statement,  however,  I  hear  this  reply  : 
"  This  may  be  all  true,  as  far  as  it  goes.  This  is 
pure  theism,  and  is  no  doubt  a  vast  step  upward 
from  sheer  unbehef.  But  it  is  not  Christian  faith. 
That  is  more  than  a  mere  instinct  of  trust  in 
God :  it  is  trast  in  him,  because  of  what  he  has 
done  for  us  through  his  Son.  It  is  trust  in  God's 
grace,  mediated  through  the  sacrifice  of  Chiist." 

I  gladly  admit  and  proclaim  that  Christ  has 
lifted  the  world  to  a  higher  faith  than  it  had  be- 
fore, or  has  now  outside  of  Christianity.  But  is 
it  a  different  faith?  or  is  it  not  the  scwie,  deepened, 
purified,  and  elevated  ?  When  Paul  spoke  to  the 
Greeks  at  Athens,  he  did  not  tell  them  he  had 
brought  them  another  God  or  a  new  religion  ;  but 


FAITH  AND  BELIEF.  21 

that  he  had  come  to  make  clear  to  them  the  being 
whom  they  ah'ead}'  worshipped.  ' '  Whom  ye  igiio- 
rantl}^  worship,  Mm  declare  I  unto  3'ou."  If  Paul 
beheved  that  the  Greeks  were  ignorantk  wor- 
shipping the  true  God,  wh}'  should  we  deny  that 
the  Chinese  and  Hindoos,  the  ancient  Persians 
and  Eg3^ptians,  the  negroes  of  Africa  and  the  In- 
dians of  North  America,  have  also  been  ignorantly 
worshipping  the  true  God?  Have  not  the}'  also, 
in  all  their  different  idolatries  and  superstitions, 
been  feeling  after  God,  if  haplj^  the}'  might  find 
him?  When  the  Indian  mother,  whose  infant 
had  fallen  into  the  river,  stretched  out  her  arms 
and  cried,  "  O  Thou  Great  Ever}'where  !  save  my 
child !  "  was  she  not  crying  out  to  the  living  God, 
as  David  was  when  he  fasted  and  prayed  for  his 
child,  as  any  Christian  mother  is  who  calls  on  God 
to-day  ? 

To  see  what  is  the  essential  element  in  Chris- 
tian faith,  let  us  analyze  it,  as  we  find  it  developed 
in  Christian  experience.  For  this  purpose  we  will 
select  some  of  the  most  perfect  specimens,  the 
highest  types  in  the  history  of  our  religion. 

In  the  fourth  century  of  our  era,  there  lived  a 
man  whose  influence  on  human  thought  has  been 
so  vast,  so  continued,  so  unbroken,  that  it  fills  us 


22  FAITfl   AND   BELIEF. 

with  astonishment  at  the  power  sometimes  dele- 
gated to  a  single  man.  The  theolog}'  of  Europe 
has  been  moulded  during  fourteen  centuries  by 
this  master-mind.     He  was  one  of  those 

"Fiery  souls,  wliich,  working  out  their  way, 
Fretted  the  puny  body  to  decay, 
And  o'er-informed  their  tenement  of  chiy." 

There  is  not  a  little  Baptist  church  to-da}-  in 
Kansas,  not  a  Methodist  church  in  Florida,  not  a 
Scotch  farmer  or  English  statesman,  but  is  influ- 
enced by  that  African  bishop.  Not  a  Roman 
Cathohc  missionary  in  Japan  and  Brazil  but  is 
guided  by  the  dead  hand  of  Aurelius  Augustine. 
His  theology  we  know,  and  we  reject  it.  But 
what  was  his  faith  ?  Read  his  "  Confessions,"  and 
see.  In  that  book,  he  has  unlocked  his  heart. 
There  is  the  deepest,  sweetest  essence  of  his  re- 
Hgion.  And,  changing  possibh^  a  few  words  or 
phrases,  there  is  not  a  sentence,  not  a  line  of  that 
most  devout  of  all  appeals  to  God,  but  could  be 
uttered  as  the  pra3'er  of  a  Unitarian  Christian, 
and  meet  the  deepest  wants  of  a  Buddhist  and 
Lama  in  the  mountains  of  Thibet.  It  is  a  cr^'^ 
of  the  child  to  his  father  and  mother ;  a  simple 
utterance  of  perfect  trust  in  an  infinite  love  ;  it  is 
human  love  casting  itself  on  the  infinite  tender- 


FAITH  AND   BELIEF.  23 

ness,   with  perfect  confidence  that  he  hears  and 
that  he  pities. 

And  now  come  down  twelve  centuries  later. 
The  Roman  Catholics  regard  Augustine  as  the 
Father  of  their  theology.  Let  us  take  the  foun- 
der of  Protestantism,  Martin  Luther.  The  battle- 
cr}'  by  which  this  hero  broke  the  sleep  of  ages  was 
the  echo  of  Paul's  words,  "We  are  justified  by 
faith."  What  led  Luther  to  his  great  work  ?  His 
own  profound  experience.  A  poor  monk  in  an 
Augustinian  monaster}^,  he  tried  to  save  his  soul 
by  prayer  and  fasting,  penance  and  sacrament. 
But  all  in  vain  :  these  monkish  practices  onty  made 
him  feel  more  heavily  the  burden  of  his  sins.  At 
last,  by  the  mediation  of  a  brother  monk,  Luther 
was  led  to  go  to  God  himself,  and  find  a  Saviour 
in  him.  God,  in  Christ,  reconciled  Luther  to 
himself.  Henceforth  all  the  ceremonies  and  sacra- 
ments of  the  church,  all  acts  of  ascetic  denial,  all 
hope  of  salvation  b}'  priestl}'  absolution  or  papal 
indulgence,  were  cast  aside.  Simple  faith  in  God, 
through  Christ,  had  created  a  jo}'  in  Luther's 
heart,  a  sense  of  heavenl}^  peace  and  hope,  that 
was  like  a  new  moral  force  sent  into  the  world. 
It  shook  the  seat  of  the  papac}'  in  Rome  ;  it  pen- 
etrated the  emperor's   palace  and   the   peasant's 


24  FAITH  AND   BELIEF. 

hut.  Pardon  freely'  bestowed,  unboiight  grace 
and  goodness, — this  was  the  living  experience 
which  made  a  new  world  and  a  new  civilization 
in  Europe.  Compare  Luther's  faith  with  that  of 
Augustine,  and  3'ou  will  find  them  essentiall}'  the 
same.  Their  views  of  church  and  of  life  were  a 
thousand  miles  apart ;  their  faith  was  the  same 
simple  trust  in  the  divine  love. 

One  more  example  from  later  times.  Duiing 
the  last  century  there  arose  in  England  a  rehg- 
ious  movement,  which,  to  m}'  mind,  combines  in 
itself  more  depth  and  breadth,  more  freedom  and 
more  elevation  than  an}^  other  since  that  of 
Luther.  And  the  root  of  this  was  another  return 
to  the  same  simple  element  of  childlike  trust  in 
God.  When  John  Wesle}^  was  crossing  the  At- 
lantic on  his  way  to  Georgia,  to  become  a  mis- 
sionary to  the  heathen,  he  was  what  we  now  call 
a  Rituahst,  or  Puseyite,  in  religion.  The  method 
of  salvation  to  him  was  to  fast  and  pra}",  to  re- 
nounce the  world,  to  save  his  soul  by  fidelit}^  to 
all  the  minutest  requisitions  of  the  church,  by 
daily  communion,  hours  of  prayer,  and  the  like. 
But  on  this  vo3-age  they  encountered  a  fearful 
gale  ;  and  in  the  confusion  and  terror  of  the  storm, 
when   the    awful  tempest   laid   the  vessel  on  its 


FAITH  AND  BELIEF.  25 

beam,  and  they  seemed  about  to  perish,  some 
Moravians  on  board  were  cahiilj  singing  h3'mns 
of  trust  to  God.  The  honest  Wesley,  looking 
into  his  own  heart,  found  no  such  tranquillity 
there,  but  a  secret,  un conquered  fear  of  death 
and  judgment.  After  the  gale  had  blown  out,  he 
asked  the  Moravians  wh}^  they  felt  no  fear.  They 
replied,  "  We  trust  in  God."  "  But  3-our  women 
and  your  children,  they  also  were  so  calm,"  said 
Wesle3^  ' '  Our  women  and  children  are  not 
afraid  to  die  ;  the}' also  trust  in  God."  Here  was 
a  mj'stery  to  Wesle}'.  He  had  believed  in  all  the 
orthodoxy  of  the  church ;  had  practised  all  the 
ceremonies  of  his  religion  more  than  others  ;  had 
been  accounted  a  man  of  the  most  eminent  pietj^ 
What  was  this  faith,  then,  that  he  needed?  This 
idea  haunted  him  during  his  sta}'  in  Georgia,  and 
gave  him  no  rest.  It  sent  him  back  to  England. 
There  he  took  no  counsel  with  bishops  or  doctors, 
or  those  called  leaders  of  the  church,  but  found 
his  poor  Moravian  friends  to  learn  their  secret. 
At  last,  after  many  struggles  and  praj'ers,  he 
learned  the  truth,  that 

"  A  man's  best  things  are  nearest  him, 
Lie  close  around  his  feet." 

The  living  faith,  which  he  had  missed  so  long  in 


26  FAITH  AND   BELIEF. 

his  arduous  struggle  for  salvation,  was  the  faith 
of  a  little  child,  who  knows  nothing  about  sin  ur 
salvation,  but  trusts  without  a  doubt  in  a  Father's 
love.  It  was  because  it  was  so  simple  tliat  he  had 
missed  it  so  long.  He  had  looked  for  a  salvation 
strange,  mj'sterious,  and  difficult,  to  be  bought 
b}'  sacrifice  and  worship,  and  the  solemn  forms 
of  an  ancient  church.  But  it  was  simply  and 
onl}'  to  forget  about  himself  and  his  salvation,  to 
leave  penance  and  pra3'ers,  and  to  put  himself 
into  the  arms  of  the  heavenl}'  Father,  thinking  no 
more  about  himself  or  his  own  soul,  but  about 
saving  the  souls  of  others  in  the  strength  of  the 
Infinite  love.  Thus  AVesley  passed  through  ex- 
actl}^  the  same  experience  as  that  of  Paul,  Augus- 
tine, and  Luther,  and  arrived  at  last  at  the  same 
essential  faith,  and  found  the  truth  of  Christ's 
great  saying,  that  to  be  converted  was  onl}^  to  be- 
come again  as  a  little  child.  Then  was  revealed 
to  him  the  meaning  which  our  translation  misses, 
of  that  other  profound  saying  of  the  Master  :  "  He 
who  would  save  his  soul  loses  it ;  but  he  who  is 
willing  to  lose  his  soul  for  the  sake  of  the  gospel 
love  and  work,  he  finds  it."  Not  when  we  think 
about  saving  our  soul  can  we  save  it ;  but  when 
we   think   about   God's   love   and   his    children's 


FAITH  AND   BELIEF.  27 

needs,  then  it  is  saved  for  us,  while  we  are  caring 
for  others.  In  that  houi',  AVesle}"  passed  up  out 
of  the  rehgion  of  rituaUsm  to  a  higher  plane.  In 
that  hour,  and  not  before,  was  Methodism  born. 
Then,  through  this  new  experience  of  Wesley, 
was  a  fresh  impulse  of  heavenh'  love  poui'ed  into 
human  hearts,  and  a  vast  movement  began  which 
has  brought  blessings  to  millions  on  both  sides  of 
the  Atlantic. 

Thus,  in  all  these  cases,  we  see  that  faith  is 
essentiall}'  the  same  thing.  It  is  casting  all  our 
care  for  body  and  soul  on  Him  who  cares  for  us. 
It  is  trusting  in  God  as  a  faithful  Creator,  in 
Chiist  as  a  dear  friend  and  helper,  who  teaches 
us  to  saj',  "  Our  Father."  Many  theologies,  but 
one  faith.  There  may  be  a  hundred  beliefs,  as 
there  maj'  be  a  hundred  roads  to  London  or  New 
York.  But,  when  we  have  entered  the  city,  we  are 
all  in  the  same  place,  side  b}'  side.  There  is 
neither  Jew  nor  Greek,  neither  Trinitarian  nor 
Unitarian  there  ;  neither  Catholic  nor  Protestant, 
but  all  are  one  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  in  the  love  of 
the  great  Father. 

Faith  ma}^  even  sometimes  appear  under  what 
seems  to  be  unbeUef.  A  soldier,  dying  on  a  field 
of  battle  in  our  war  for  freedom  and  union,  was 


28  FAITH  AND  BELIEF. 

asked  by  a  chaplain,  who  tells  the  stoiy,  to  trust 
in  the  atoning  blood  of  Christ,  and  ask:  God  for 
pardon.  "No,  not  now,"  said  the  soldier:  "I 
did  not  do  it  when  I  was  strong  and  well :  I  will 
not  do  it  now  merely  to  please  God  and  to  pre- 
vent him  from  sending  me  to  hell.  That  would 
be  the  act  of  a  coward."  Though  the  chaplain 
did  not  see  it,  this  was  reall}'  an  act  of  trust  in 
God.  The  soldier  preferred  rather  to  trust  him- 
self to  God  as  he  was  than  try  to  pacify  the 
Almight}'  b}^  a  death-bed  confession.  And  that 
was  faith.  So  when  John  Stuart  Mill  wrote  his 
famous  sentence,  protesting  against  the  notion 
of  Mr.  Mansell  that  the  goodness  of  God  could  be 
essentiall}^  different  from  ours,  and  declared  that 
"  if  he  must  go  to  hell  for  believing  in  the  good- 
ness which  seemed  to  him  good,  then  to  hell  he 
would  go,"  he  also  was  reall}'^  expressing  faith  in 
God  as  a  faithful  Creator,  who,  having  made  the 
human  mind  to  believe  in  right  and  in  truth, 
would  not  demand  of  it  to  believe  differently. 
And  this  sa3lng  of  Mill's  is  also  in  essence  one 
with  the  doctrine  of  those  New  England  divines 
who  thought  no  man  truly  converted  till  he  was 
wilUng  to  be  damned  for  the  glory  of  God.  For 
John  Stuart  Mill  said  that  he  was  ready  to  be 


FAITH  AND   BELIEF.  29 

damned  for  the  cause  of  honesty  and  truth,  and 
that  is  for  the  glor}'  of  God.  so  far  as  an}'  thing 
we  do  can  glorify  him.  Being  honest,  being  true, 
standing  by  our  true  conyictions,  that  glorifies 
God.  The  old  Arab  sheik,  Job,  said  the  same 
when  he  refused  to  confess  himself  a  sinner  until 
he  could  see  how  and  why  he  was  a  sinner,  and 
answered  the  pious  persuasions  of  his  triends  with 
this  immortal  utterance  :  ' '  Shall  I  speak  ivords  of 
wind  to  the  Almighty?  Can  I  please  him^  as  I 
would  please  a  man,  by  outward  submission  and 
ernpt}^  flattery?" 

The  same  thought  is  expressed  in  another  way 
in  one  of  the  poems  of  our  New  England  Eobert 
Burns.  It  is  the  same  essential,  uniyersal  faith, 
which,  beginning  low  down  in  the  heart  of  the 
sayage  and  the  Pagan,  unfolds  into  higher  forms 
in  the  Christian,  but  is  always  the  same  in  Cath- 
olic or  Protestant,  Methodist  or  Unitarian.  And 
so  we  find  it  expressed  in  the  tender  strain  of  our 
Quaker  poet,  who  sa3's,  as  Jesus  said  in  the  gar- 
den, and  as  all  true  faith  responds  eyerywhere, 
"  Not  my  will,  but  thine,  be  done  :  "  — 

"The  autumn-time  has  come 
On  woods  that  dream  of  bloom. 
And  OA'er  purpling  vines 
The  low  sun  fainter  shines. 


30  FAITH  AND   BELIEF. 

"The  aster-flower  is  failing, 
The  hazel's  gold  is  paling  ; 
Yet  overhead,  more  near, 
The  eternal  stars  appear. 

"  And  present  gratitude 
Insures  tlie  future's  good  ; 
And  for  the  things  I  see 
I  trust  the  things  to  be, 

"  That,  in  the  paths  untrod 
And  the  long  days  of  God, 
My  feet  shall  still  be  led. 
My  heart  be  comforted. 

"  Others  shall  sing  the  song. 
Others  shall  right  the  wrong. 
Finish  what  I  begin. 
And  all  I  fail  of,  win. 

"  What  matter,  I  or  they  ? 
Mine,  or  another's  day. 
So  the  right  word  be  said, 
And  life  be  sweeter  made  ? 

"  Hail  to  the  coming  singers  ! 
Hail  to  the  brave  light-bringers  ! 
Forward  I  reach,  and  share 
All  that  they  sing,  or  dare. 

"  The  airs  of  heaven  blow  o'er  me, 
A  glory  sliines  before  me. 
Of  what  mankind  shall  be, 
Pure,  generous,  brave,  and  free. 


FAITH  AND  BELIEF.  31 

"  Ring,  bells,  in  unreared  steeples. 
The  joy  of  new-born  peoples! 
Sound,  trumpets,  far-off  blown. 
Your  triumph  is  my  own." 

This  is  the  ver^'  breath  and  essence  of  that  faith 
which  trusts  the  gi-eat  God,  the  Divine  Friend, 
the  Infinite  Tenderness,  the  dear  Father  of  us  all; 
above,  below,  around,  within ;  from  whom,  and 
through  whom,  and  to  whom  are  all  things. 


II. 

CHRIST   AND    CHRISTIANITY. 

THE  two  views  on  this  subject  which  are  the 
most  significant,  influential,  and  interesting, 
stand  as  opposite  extremes.  Fkst  comes  the 
grand  orthodoxy  of  the  Church,  which  declares 
Christianity  to  have  been  a  miraculous  interposi- 
tion of  the  Supreme  Being  for  the  rescue  of  the 
human  race  ;  declares  that  Christianity  is  the  only 
true  religion,  out  of  which  there  is  no  possible 
salvation ;  that  Christ  was  very  God  and  very 
Man, — Prophet,  Priest,  and  King.  Prophet,  as 
teaching  infalhbly  supernatural  truth.  Priest,  as 
dying  to  make  an  atonement  to  God  for  the  sins 
of  the  human  race.  King,  as  God  himself,  second 
person  in  the  Trinit}^,  whose  right  it  is  to  demand 
absolute  obedience  from  all  his  creatures. 

This  view  stands  at  one  end  of  the  scale  of 
religious  behef .  We  will  call  it  Supernaturalism. 
At  the  other  end  of  the  scale  is  the  view  of  those 
who  deny  any  supernatural  character  to  Christ  or 
Christianity,  —  the  -sdew  of  such  writers  as  Strauss 
3 


34  CHRIST  AND    CHRISTIANITY. 

in  Geraiaii}^,  Iveiiaii  in  France,  Conway  in  Eng- 
land, Frothingham  in  America.  According  to 
them,  Christianity  was  a  natural  development  of 
humanity,  Uke  ever}'  other  religion ;  better  in 
some  things  than  they,  —  good  and  useful  once, 
but  now  outgrown,  discredited,  and  passed  b}-. 
Instead  of  it  we  are  to  have  either  no  religion,  but 
instead  thereof  science,  art,  and  literature,  —  or 
else  a  larger  and  better  religion,  that  of  Human- 
it}'.     AVe  will  call  this  view  Naturalism. 

Xow,  when  we  find  two  such  opposite  and  ex- 
treme views,  each  advocated  b}'  earnest  and  in- 
telligent men,  honest  in  their  convictions,  and 
bent  on  converting  the  whole  world  to  their  own 
faith;    where,  probably,  does  the  truth  lie? 

The  old  answer  was,  "The  truth  hes  some- 
where between  these  extremes,  somewhere  in  the 
middle.  Believe  a  little  less  than  supernaturahsm, 
beUeve  a  little  more  than  naturalism,  and  you  will 
be  about  right."  But  half  views  are  feeble  views. 
At  each  extreme  there  is  an  idea,  a  principle,  and 
therefore  strong  conviction ;  in  the  middle  there 
is  apt  to  be  only  confusion  of  thought  and  weak- 
ness of  purpose.  A  better  philosophy  of  the 
human  mind  has  taught  us  that  truth  is  not  in 
the  middle,  but  on  both  sides ;  that  one  extreme 


CHRIST  AXD    CIIRTSTIAXITY.  35 

embodies  one  truth,  and  the  other  embodies  its 
antagonistic  truth.  On  either  side  is  conviction  ; 
in  the  middle,  hesitation  and  hikewarmness. 
Goethe  long  ago  expressed  this  view :  '  •  You 
think  that  truth  is  in  the  mean  between  extremes  ; 
truth  is  not  there,  but  the  paradox."  What 
tiTith,  let  us  therefore  ask,  is  there  in  the  old 
supernaturalism,  and  what  truth  in  the  modern 
naturalism  ?  Finding  and  accepting  the  truths  on 
both  sides,  the}'  will  suppty  each  other's  defects, 
con-ect  each  other's  errors,  sift  out  non-essentials, 
and  leave  the  essentials.  This  is  the  method  of 
modern  science, — to  find  all  the  truth  there  is, 
sure  that  it  will  all  be  found  at  last  to  be  in  har- 
mon}'  with  itself. 

What  is  the  truth  in  supernaturalism  ? 

It  is  that  Christianit}'  is  not  ouh'  deeper,  higher, 
broader,  better  than  any  other  rehgion,  but  essen- 
tialh'  different  from  every  other,  in  this :  that  its 
truth  is  so  absolute  and  so  universal  as  to  be  fitted 
to  become  the  rehgion  of  mankind.  It  is  capable 
of  doing  all  the  work  which  can  be  asked  of  a 
rehgion  ;  that  is,  to  teach  ever  essential  truth,  to 
give  to  man  peace  with  God,  and  to  purify  him 
from  evil.  To  prove  Christianity  to  be  a  super- 
natural relioion  is  not  necessary :  neither  is  this 


36  CHRIST  AND    CHRISTIANITY. 

an  adequate  distinction.  For  God,  who  is  above 
nature,  is  alwa^'S  descending  into  nature,  so  that 
the  supernatural  is  in  all  things.  God,  as  Paul 
declares,  "is  above  all,  and  through  all,  and  in 
3-0U  all."  To  sa}'  that  Christianit}'  is  super- 
natural is  to  say,  not  too  much,  but  too  little. 
Nor  is  it  enough  to  sa}',  "  Christianit}'  is  the 
exclusively  true  religion."  We  must  go  further, 
and  maintain  that  it  is  the  indusivehj  true  religion. 
That  which  excludes  and  shuts  out  is  not  so  great 
as  that  which  takes  in  and  receives.  80  Christi- 
anity has  received  into  itself  all  the  good  of  many 
s^'stems, — the  philosoph}'  and  art  of  Greece,  the 
laws  of  Rome,  the  mj'sticism  of  India,  the  mono- 
theism of  the  Jews,  the  triad  of  Egypt,  the  war 
between  good  and  evil  taught  by  Zoroaster,  the 
reverence  for  ancestors  and  the  conservatism  of 
China,  the  Scandinavian  faith  in  libert}'  and 
progress.  All  the  prophets  who  have  been  since 
the  world  began,  and  all  the  civilizations  of  the 
past,  have,  like  the  wise  men  of  the  East,  brought 
their  gifts  to  the  infant  Messiah.  There  is  in  this 
wonderful  religion  the  power  of  assimilating  to 
itself  all  that  is  true  and  good  ever3'where.  It  is 
hke  the  sea,  "  into  which  all  rivers  run,  and  j'et 
it  is  not  full." 


CHRIST  AND    CHRISTIAXITT.  37 

The  onh'  progressive  religion  in  the  world  to- 
day is  Christianity.  All  others  are  decayed, 
arrested,  or  retrogi'ade.  But  Christianit}^  is  capa- 
ble of  self-development.  It  unfolds  itself  into 
new  forms,  puts  forth  new  branches,  and  makes 
ever}'  da}'  a  new  heavens  and  a  new  earth.  In 
ages  of  universal  war,  it  unfolded  into  monastic 
institutions, — islands  of  peace  in  the  midst  of 
the  stormy  ocean ;  oases  of  knowledge  in  the 
desert  of  ignorance.  When  all  society  seemed 
falhng  apart  amid  the  deluge  of  barbarism,  it 
created  the  Papacy,  as  a  central  force  to  hold 
Christendom  together.  When  this  force  became 
excessive  and  tyrannical,  it  suddenly  produced 
the  Protestant  Reformation,  which  saA^ed  personal 
liberty  in  Europe.  And  when  this  outbreak  of 
fiery  lava  had  become  too  rigid,  it  again  burst 
forth  in  such  fountains  of  thought  as  Puritanism, 
Presbyterianism,  Quakerism,  Methodism,  and  the 
multiform  varieties  of  modern  opinion. 

T  am  told  that  Christianity  stands  in  the  way  of 
progress  ;  that  it  is  an  incubus  on  human  thought. 
Explain  then,  if  you  can,  the  manifest  fact  that 
the  progress  of  humanity  in  science,  art,  litera- 
ture, is  co-extensive  with  Christendom.  AYho 
goes  to-day  to  study  in  Mohammedan  universities  ? 


38  CHRIST  AND    CHRISTIANITY. 

What  astronomical  discoveries  are  made  in  the 
observatories  of  Cliina?  Was  it  a  Hindu  who 
invented  the  steam  engine,  the  locomotive,  the 
photograph,  the  electric  telegraph?  Who  are  the 
great  painters  and  sculptors  of  Turkey,  Russia, 
Japan?  Mention,  if  3'ou  please,  the  poets,  his- 
torians, mathematicians,  orators,  novehsts,  phi- 
losophers among  the  Buddhists.  In  Christendom 
alone  is  the  human  race  in  progress,  and  it  is 
the  only  religion  which  is  itself  progressive.  We 
have  a  right  to  claim  that  it  will  become  more 
and  more  the  light  of  the  w^orld. 

The  principle  of  this  wonderful  vitalit}'  is  to  be 
found  in  Christ  himself.  Christianit}'  is  not  an 
abstract  creed,  a  system  of  thought ;  it  is  not  a 
philosophical  S3^stem,  —  it  is  the  personal  influence 
of  a  great  soul.  Christendom  may  say,  as  the 
Apostle  said,  "  The  life  I  now  live,  I  live  by  faith 
in  the  Son  of  God."  One  method  b}'  which  the 
Creator  causes  the  progress  of  humanity  is  by 
sending  new  impulses  into  the  w^orld  through  gi'eat 
men.  Every  civilization  has  been  largel}'  made 
what  it  is  b}'  the  influence  of  great  souls.  Greece 
became  Greece  by  means  of  Aristides  and  Milti- 
ades,  Socrates  and  Plato  ;  Aristotle,  Homer,  ^s- 
ch3ius,  Pindar,  Thuc3'dides,  Phidias.     Take  the 


CHRIST  AND   CHRISTIANITY.  39 

great  men  out  of  European  histor}',  —  its  goodly 
compan}'  of  heroes  and  saints,  its  noble  arm}'  of 
prophets,  poets,  and  statesmen,  —  and  it  would 
collapse  to  the  dead  level  of  Africa.  What  would 
England  be  without  its  Shakespeare  and  Spenser ; 
its  Locke,  Xewton,  Milton  ;  its  Alfred,  and  Crom- 
well, and  Hampden?  What  would  America  be  if 
we  had  never  had  the  Rlgrim  Fathers,  nor  Samuel 
Adams,  nor  Washington,  nor  Franklin? 

These  are  the  living  lights, 
That  from  our  bold  green  heights 

Shall  shine  afar, 
Till  those  who  name  the  name 
Of  freedom,  to  the  flame 
Come,  as  the  Magi  came 

To  Bethlehem's  star. 

The  great  souls  of  histor}'  almost  constitute 
history.  But  one  towers  above  them  all,  —  so 
that,  as  Horace  said  of  Zeus,  "There  is  nothing 
like  him,  nothing  next  to  him."  When  we  think 
of  China,  we  name  Confucius.  Zoroaster  shines 
thi'ough  the  darkness  of  three  thousand  jqrys 
from  ancient  Bactria.  The  mild  Buddha  has 
spread  his  benign  influence  over  the  whole  of 
Eastern  Asia  during  twent^'-five  centuries.  The 
civilizations  of  which  these  were  the  inspiration 


40  CHRIST  AND    CIIRISTIAXJTY. 

are  fading  awa}' ;  but  wherever  the  word  of  Jesus 
goes  to-day,  new  life  flows  from  it  into  the  soul. 
Liberty  of  speech  and  thought  grows  out  of  it ; 
popular  education  attends  it ;  a  government  of 
laws,  not  force,  has  been  created  by  it.  It  bal- 
ances order  against  freedom  ;  it  combines  conser- 
vatism and  reform ;  it  brings  consolation  to  the 
bereaved,  comfort  to  the  sorrowing,  and  help  to 
the  forlorn.  And  all  this  is  simply  an  unfolding 
of  the  life  of  Christ  himself. 

I  have  seen  on  the  outskirts  of  our  land  a  town 
spring  up,  like  Jacob's  gourd,  almost  in  a  night. 
I  have  been  in  such  places  where  there  might  be  a 
population  of  perhaps  one  or  two  thousand  jDcoplc, 
many  of  them  outlaws  and  desperadoes,  all  of  them 
unrestrained  b}'  the  civilities  of  hfe.  There  were 
no  laws  there  but  such  as  the  population  chose  to 
fancy ;  no  churches,  no  schools,  no  newspapers ; 
but  bar-rooms  and  gambhng-houses,  fighting  and 
profanity,  and  the  mastery  of  the  red-handed 
murderer.  Into  such  a  place  as  I  have  described, 
there  comes  some  poor  Methodist  or  Baptist 
preacher,  all  his  worldl}'  goods  in  his  saddle-bags. 
He  preaches  where  he  can, — in  a  bar-room  or  a 
tavern,  or  perhaps  in  the  street.  He  goes  in  the 
strength  of  God  among  these  moral  maniacs,  and 


CHRIST  AXD    CHRIST  FAXIT  Y.  41 

appeals  to  motives  latent  in  their  breasts  and  un- 
known to  themselves.  But  conscience  is  roused  ; 
the  sense  of  an  awe  and  mystery  higher  than  this 
world  enters  their  souls.  The}'  awaken  as  from  a 
hoiTid  dream  ;  they  come  to  themselves,  change 
their  hves,  and  find  a  strange  peace  descending 
into  their  hearts.  Our  philosophers  who  write  in 
their  quiet  studies  in  New  York  or  Boston  may 
believe  that  Christianit}'  is  outgrown,  and  that  the 
splendid  figure  of  Jesus  has  passed  out  of  our 
philosoph}-.  But  while  thousands  of  humble 
Christian  preachers  are  thus,  by  the  power  of  the 
divine  word  and  hfe,  laying  the  foundation  of 
order  in  the  land,  I  think  that  Christ  is  as  near 
and  as  real  to  us  to-day  as  he  was  to  the  Apostle 
Paul  or  the  Apostle  John. 

I  believe,  with  Augustine,  with  Luther,  and 
with  Fenelon,  with  Wesley  and  Swedenborg,  that 
Christianity  is  the  life  of  Jesus  himself,  prolonged 
and  unfolded  on  the  earth.  We  are  told  by  mod- 
ern critics  that  we  cannot  know  much  about  the 
historic  Christ,  —  there  are  so  man}-  contradictions 
and  difficulties  in  the  gospel  narrative,  and  no 
hannonious  whole.  So  speaks  the  lower  criticism, 
anahlic,  destructive,  negative.  But  the  higher 
criticism,  sympathetic,   sj'nthetic,  positive,  crea- 


42  CHRIST  AND    ClfJi/ST/AX/ry. 

live,  ever  brings  the  historic  Christ  more  near  to 
our  understandings,  no  less  than  to  our  hearts. 
As  the  world  obeys  him  more  faithfully,  it  learns 
to  know  him  more  truh\  When  he  went  up  to 
God,  he  did  not  go  away  from  man.  He  is  still 
the  great  power  in  human  history,  the  great  motor 
in  human  progress.  He  is  still  "  the  Word  made 
flesh,  dwelling  among  us." 

And  who  was  Christ?  I  do  not  accept  the 
scholastic  theology  of  the  Church,  the  definitions 
of  Aquinas,  the  i:)hrases  invented  by  Tertullian, 
because  I  think  these  formulas  hide  his  real  div- 
init}'.  I  believe  him  ?nore  divine  than  the  Church 
has  stated  him  to  be,  not  less.  I  see  in  him  w?ore 
of  God,  not  less,  than  I  can  find  in  this  technical 
theolog}'.  These  mediaeval  phrases  do  not  reveal 
Christ ;  they  conceal  him.  I  lose,  when  I  listen 
to  them,  my  all-loving  Father  and  m}'  most 
tender  of  brothers.  My  mind  is  confused  and 
darkened,  not  enlightened. 

Leaving,  then,  all  theological  terms,  and  en- 
deavoring to  find  the  secret  of  this  wonderful 
virtue,  which  has  gone  out  of  Jesus  into  the  world, 
we  ask  what  Jesus  claimed  to  be,  and  what  the 
New  Testament  teaches  concerning  him.  We  as- 
sume that  however  much  the  four  Gospels  may 


CHRIST  AND    CHRISTIANITY.  43 

diflfer  in  details,  in  spirit  and  substance  the}'  are 
agi'eed.  Admit  all  that  the  minnte  critics  may 
claim,  there  is  no  doubt  that  these  four  honest  and 
simple  narratives  present  a  portrait  so  original 
that  they  could  not  have  invented  it ;  so  consistent 
with  itself  that  it  proves  a  real  person  behind  it ; 
and  so  superior  to  all  that  the  world  has  seen  that 
this  person  is  an  adequate  explanation  of  the 
origin  of  that  sublime  faith  which  we  call  Chris- 
tianity. 

First.  Then,  whatever  else  he  was,  he  is  de- 
scribed as  a  perfect  man,  "  made  in  all  points  like 
his  brethren,"  tempted  like  a  man,  suffering  like  a 
man,  calling  all  men  his  brother-men,  praying  to 
God  like  a  man,  and,  at  last,  dying  like  a  man. 
Instead  of  beginning  with  his  di^inity,  as  is  the 
custom,  and  going  down,  we  will  begin  with  his 
humanit}',  and  see  how  far  we  can  go  up. 

Secondh'.  He  was  b}'  birth  a  Jew,  —  a  patriot, 
loving  his  countr}',  his  people,  and  its  cit}',  rev- 
erencing Moses  and  the  prophets,  and  saying  that 
he  did  not  come  to  destroy  them.  But  yet  he 
was  wholly  emancipated  from  Jewish  prejudices, 
bigotr}',  and  narrowness  ;  he  was  a  radical  in  his 
treatment  of  the  Jewish  Sabbath,  the  Jewish  tem- 
ple, ritual,  and  priesthood.    The  worship  he  taught 


44  CHRIST  AND    CHRISTIANITY. 

was  not  Jewish,  but  the  worship  of  the  Fatlier  in 
spirit  and  in  truth.  The  honest  publiean  he 
counted  nearer  to  God  than  the  pious  Pharisee. 
And,  in  his  description  of  the  great  judgment,  he 
declared  that  not  those  who  prophesied  in  his 
name,  but  those  who  did  acts  of  righteousness 
and  merc}^,  should  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  his 
Father.  His  religion  was  not  Jewish,  but  hiunan, 
and  the  title  he  loved  best  was  the  Son  of  man^  — 
the  man  of  men,  —  the  one  in  whom  humanity 
fully  appears. 

Thirdly.  He  calls  himself  "the  Way,  the 
Truth,  and  the  Life;"  he  sa^^s,  "For  this  end 
was  I  born,  and  for  this  cause  came  I  into  the 
world,  —  to  bear  witness  to  the  truth."  He  bears 
witness  to  what  he  has  seen  of  the  Divine  laws, 
—  to  what  he  not  only  thinks  or  believes,  but 
knows.  We  can  therefore  rel}^  on  his  authority-, 
for  it  is  the  authorit}^  of  insight  and  knowledge. 
He  speaks  what  he  knows,  and  testifies  to  what  he 
has  seen.  He  saw,  with  the  inward  eye  of  inspi- 
ration, the  facts  and  laws  of  the  spiritual  world, 
as  we  see  with  the  outward  eye  the  facts  of  the 
phj'sical  world.  He  could  no  more  be  mistaken 
about  the  one  than  we  can  be  about  the  other. 
There    are   some   things  we  all  know  infalhbly, 


CHRIST  AND   CHRISTIANITY.  45 

about  which  we  are  certahi.  I  know  that  I  exist, 
that  3'ou  exist,  that  I  am  here  to-night  speaking 
to  3^011.  Authorit}^  accompanies  knowledge  alwa^^s. 
The  man  who  knows  an}^  thing  becomes  necessarily^ 
a  leader  in  his  department,  and  all  take  him  as  an 
authority'.  There  is  no  hesitation  in  his  tone,  no 
theorizing  in  his  statements,  no  confusion  in  his 
speech,  no  cloud  on  his  thought.  And  just  so 
Jesus  speaks  of  spiritual  things.  >Yhen  he  says, 
"Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit,  for  theirs  is  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,"  he  is  stating  a  law  of  God's 
universe.  When  he  sa3's,  "Not  a  sparrow  falls 
to  the  ground  without  your  Father,"  he  states 
another  law.  Because  the  world  recognizes  in 
him  this  perfect  insight,  this  clear  vision,  this 
infallible  intuition  of  truth,  it  accepts  him  as  its 
prophet,  and  sits  at  his  feet  as  the  great  teacher 
of  the  race. 

Fourthl3'.  He  came  to  bring  sinners  to  God, 
to  bring  pardon  for  sin,  to  make  those  who  were 
afar  off  nigh,  and  to  fill  the  human  heart  with  a 
serene  and  blessed  peace.  This  is  his  atoning  or 
priestty  work.  I  care  not  for  an3"  of  the  theories 
about  it,- — I  think  them  inadequate.  I  do  not 
think,  as  the  orthodox  doctrine  taught  for  the 
first  thousand  3xars,  that  Christ  died  to  pa3'  a 


46  CHRIST  AM)    CHRISTIANITY. 

ransom  clue  to  the  devil ;  nor,  as  was  taught  for 
the  next  five  hundred  3'ears,  that  he  died  to  paj-  a 
debt  due  to  God ;  nor  that  he  was  a  sacrifice  in 
the  Jewish  sense  of  a  sacrifice.  I  believe  more 
than  all  this ;  in  an  atonement  larger,  deeper, 
more  universal,  more  in  accordance  with  all 
Christ's  teachings  and  the  infinite  love  of  God. 
I  believe  that  Jesus,  first  of  all  men,  clearl}'  saw, 
and  alone  among  men  has  fulh'  declared,  the  in- 
finite pardoning  love  of  God  to  the  sinner.  He 
indeed  teaches  that  God,  when  revealing  himself 
in  law,  makes  a  perpetual  distinction  between 
right,  and  wrong,  good  and  evil ;  that  ever}' 
man  must  reap  as  he  sows ;  be  rewarded  and 
punished  in  this  world,  and  in  all  worlds,  ac- 
cording to  his  deed ;  be  judged  by  his  works ; 
and,  according  to  his  practical  fidelit}',  be  ruler 
over  five  or  ten  cities  ;  according  to  his  practical 
infidehty,  go  into  outer  darkness.  This  eternal 
law  of  God,  Jesus  does  not  destro}',  but  fulfils,  — 
carries  out  to  its  ultimates.  But,  meantime,  he 
reveals  the  other  side  of  divinity,  showing  the 
infinite  tenderness  and  compassion  of  God,  which 
makes  no  difference  among  his  children,  except 
this :  that  he  cares  most  for  those  who  need  him 
most,  so  that  there  is  more  J03-  in  heaven  over 


CHRIST  AND    CHRISTIANITY.  47 

one  sinner  that  repenteth  than  over  ninety  and 
nine  just  persons  who  need  no  repentance. 
Christ's  death  did  not  produce  this  love,  or  make 
it  possible  for  God  to  pardon  sinners ;  but  it 
revealed  it.  It  showed  tliat  this  love,  binding  the 
highest  to  the  lowest,  is  the  reconciling  powder 
in  the  universe,  —  the  great  atonement  b}' which 
evil  can  be  full}^  overcome  by  good. 

While  law  divides  and  establishes  a  vast  order 
of  rank,  power,  position,  love  unites  and  pene- 
trates all  this  majestic  hierarchy  with  a  divine 
attraction.  Law  unfolds  the  powder  of  God,  and 
displays  his  glory  in  creation.  Love  holds  to- 
gether in  safety  this  infinite  universe,  and  makes 
it  all  one. 

This  is  the  great  atonement,  which  is  taught 
everywhere  in  the  doctrine  of  free  grace,  b}'  which 
thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  sinners  are 
brought  to  God.  And  this  w^as,  is,  and  will  be 
the  very  centre  of  Christian  revelation, — law 
made  at  one  with  love.  And  this  great  doctrine 
of  the  overcoming,  all-conquering,  omnipresent 
power  of  divine  love  to  redeem  the  lowest  and 
save  the  most  abandoned,  and  lift  the  most  for- 
lorn, —  this  is  nowhere  taught  as  in  the  New  Tes- 
tament, and  there  only  is  fully  reconciled  with  the 
equal  omnipresence  of  divine  law. 


48  CHRIST  AND    CHRISTIANITY. 

In  my  first  chapter,  I  spoke  of  a  soldier  who, 
about  to  die,  refused  to  sa}'  that  he  repented,  or 
that  he  beUeved  the  atonement,  because  he  thought 
if  he  did,  it  might  be  mereh'  from  fear  of  future 
l^unishment.  Of  course,  I  believe  that  sincere  re- 
pentance is  always  necessarj' ;  and  that  whenever 
a  man  sees  that  he  is  going  wrong,  whether  on  the 
death-bed  or  at  any  other  time,  he  ought  to  repent. 
He  should  turn  from  wrong  to  right :  first  inwardh', 
in  his  soul ;  then  outwardl}',  in  his  conduct.  But 
I  commended  the  soldier  for  this :  that  he  pre- 
ferred to  trust  himself  to  God  as  he  was,  rather 
■than  to  profess  repentance  and  faith  when  he  was 
not  sure  that  he  did  repent  or  believe. 

And,  fifthl}',  I  believe  Jesus  to  have  been  Son 
of  God,  and  Divine,  —  because  filled  full  of 
the  Divine  truth  and  love,  and  alwa^'s  abiding 
therein.  He  alone,  of  the  sons  of  men,  was 
always  resting  on  the  Infinite  love.  He  has  sent 
the  same  spirit,  in  less  degree,  into  the  world,  and 
enabled  us  all  to  sa}^,  "  Our  Father."  His  divinit}' 
did  not  consist  in  an}'  technical  or  metaphysical 
deity  of  person,  but  in  living  in  constant  com- 
munion with  God,  so  as  to  be  a  perpetual  mani- 
festation of  the  Divine  truth  and  love.  He  is  the 
unclouded  mirror  which  reflects  into  the  w^orld  the 


CHRIST  AND    CHRIST  I AXITY.  49 

glory  and  beauty  of  the  Almight}'.  Therefore, 
we  all,  beholding  as  in  a  glass  the  gkny  of  God, 
are  changed  into  the  same  image  from  glory  to 
greater  glory.  Christ's  divinity  consists  in  being 
the  image  of  the  unseen  God,  —  of  God  manifest 
in  a  man.  God  is  manifest  in  Nature  ;  he  is 
also  manifest  in  Providence,  in  history',  in  the 
intuitions  of  the  soul.  But  in  Jesus  God  speaks 
to  us  through  human  lips  and  a  human  Ufe ;  and 
so,  b}'  our  brother  man,  brings  us  to  himself. 

This,  ver}'  briefl}'  and  imperfecth'  stated,  is  the 
ti'uth  I  have  been  able  to  see  in  the  supernatural 
view  of  Christ  and  Christianitv,  —  dropping  the 
non-essentials  and  retaining  the  essentials. 

Turn  now  to  the  opposite  doctrine,  which  stands 
at  the  other  extreme  of  thought,  which  rejects  the 
whole  S3'stem  of  orthodox^*,  and  with  it  rejects 
also  Christianit}',  and  loses  faith  in  the  subhme 
personality  of  Jesus. 

What  shall  we  saj'  of  this  ? 

It  will  not  do  to  saj',  as  is  commonl}^  said,  that 
all  such  doubts  and  denials  proceed  from  an  evil 
heart  of  unbeUef.  I  have  seen  and  known  numer- 
ous infidels  in  all  parts  of  the  land,  and  know  that 
among  them  are  many  of  the  most  upright  and 
conscientious  of  men,  whose  hves  would  be  a 
4 


50  CHRIST  AND    CIIRISTJAXJTY. 

credit  to  an}^  Christian  church.  What  causes 
such  men  as  these  to  become  aUens  to  Christ?  I 
think  that  their  rejection  of  Christianity  often 
comes  from  mistakes  of  the  Church  itself  in  mak- 
ing non-essentials  into  essentials,  and  constituting 
those  doctrines  a  part  of  Christianity"  which  do 
not  realh"  belong  to  it.  For  example,  they  object 
to  supernaturalism,  but  to  what  kind?  It  is  to 
Christianity,  when  considered  as  an  interruption 
of  the  order  of  things,  —  an  interference  b}-  the 
Almight}",  to  cure  the  evils  which  had  come  into 
the  world.  This  sort  of  supernaturalism  has 
been  taught  by  theolog}',  but  where  is  it  taught 
by  Christ  or  his  apostles  ?  With  them  Christian- 
it}^  is  no  such  temporary  expedient,  no  after- 
thought, but  was  in  the  beginning  with  God,  was 
before  Abraham,  was  foreordained  before  the 
foundation  of  the  world.  The  supernaturalism 
of  the  New  Testament  tells  us  of  that  Infinite 
Creator  who,  above  nature,  is  for  ever  pouring  his 
life  into  nature,  "  from  whom,  and  through  whom, 
and  to  whom  are  all  things."  Christ  and  Chris- 
tianity were  the  supplement  of  all  that  went  before, 
coming  in  the  fulness  of  time,  prepared  for  by 
all  past  histor}',  announced  by  all  past  prophec}*, 
and  taking  their  place  on  the  stage  of  being  in 


CHRIST  AND    CHR ISTIANIT Y.  51 

accordance  with  universal  law.  And  with  this 
true  supernaturalism  true  naturalism  can  have  no 
quarrel. 

Again,  naturalism  objects  to  the  Miracles  of 
the  New  Testament ;  but  only  to  miracles  when 
considered  as  violations  of  the  laws  of  Nature,  or 
considered  as  evidences  of  truth.  But  these  defi- 
nitions are  the  explanations  of  theology,  not  of 
the  New  Testament.  The  miracles  of  Christ  are 
never  called  violations  of  law,  but  rather  wonder- 
ful actions  showing  wonderful  power.  The}'  are 
'•single  examples,"  as  has  been  well  said,  "of 
laws  boundless  as  the  universe."  And,  so  far 
from  using  miracles  as  proofs  of  his  truth,  Jesus 
rebukes  those  who  asked  for  such  evidence ;  sa}'- 
Ing,  "A  wicked  generation  seeks  for  a  sign,  and 
no  sign  shall  be  given  it."  He  also  appears  to 
teach,  in  his  parable  of  the  rich  man  and  Lazarus, 
that  one  who  is  not  convinced  b}'  the  truth  without 
a  miracle,  cannot  be  convinced  by  a  miracle.  The 
rich  man,  pleading  for  his  brothers,  sa3's :  "If 
one  went  from  the  dead  to  speak  to  them,  thev 
would  repent."  To  this  Father  Abraham  is  made 
to  reph' :  "If  the}"  hear  not  Moses  and  the  proph- 
ets, neither  would  the}'  be  persuaded  though  one 
went  from  the  dead."     That  a  beins;  endowed  with 


52  CHRIST  AND    CHRISTIANITY. 

such  exceptional  power  as  Jesus  should  have  per- 
formed wonderful  works,  naturalism  cannot  rea- 
sonabl}^  den3^  But  naturalism  is  right  in  main- 
taining that  the  God  of  Nature  will  not  violate 
his  own  laws. 

And,  again,  naturalism  objects,  and  justl}',  to 
an}'  conception  of  the  divinity  of  Christ  which 
makes  it  ph^'sical  instead  of  moral.  Christ  is  not 
divine  b}'  manifesting  the  omnipotence  and  omni- 
presence of  God  in  the  ph3'sical  universe,  for  this 
was  not  his  mission.  He  was  divine  in  revealing 
the  spiritual  laws  of  God,  and  becoming  a  media- 
tor of  the  divine  love  and  truth.  The  Moral  Law 
came  by  Moses  ;  physical  laws  come  by  science  ; 
but  gi-ace  and  truth  have  come  b}^  Jesus  Christ. 

A  shallow  naturaUsm  and  a  narrow  theology 
ma}'  be  at  war ;  but  a  true  science  and  a  broad 
Christianity  lend  to  each  other  a  helping  hand. 
AVhen  the  world  was  believed  to  be  in  the  centre 
of  the  universe,  and  all  the  stars  to  revolve 
around  it  ever}'  day,  man,  with  his  weakness,  his 
ignorance,  his  feeble  aspiration  and  faith,  was 
also  made  the  central  object  in  creation.  But 
how  much  nobler  an  idea  we  now  have  of  the  First 
Cause,  who  rules  the  immensities  and  eternities 
revealed  by  modern  science !     How  theology  is 


CHRIST  AND   CHRISTIANITY.  53 

purified  and  elevated  b}'  eveiy  new  access  of  truth  ! 
All  this  progress  of  the  human  mind  only  makes 
Christ  seem  greater,  and  Christianit}^  more  noble. 
A  higher  Christian  doctrine  is  to  come,  for  the 
Spirit  is  to  lead  the  world  on  from  truth  to  truth. 
A  broader,  more  inclusive  Christian  faith  is  to 
elevate  mankind.  We  are  only  now  at  the  thresh- 
old of  the  great  Christian  temple  wiiich  is  to  be. 
Christ  is  to  be  lifted  up,  and  so  to  draw  all  men 
unto  him.  If  Christianity  shall  ever  die,  it  will 
onl}^  die  as  Jesus  himself  died,  when  it  has  fin- 
ished the  work  given  it  to  do.  Onl}'  "  when  all 
things  are  subject  unto  him,  shall  the  Son  himself 
be  made  subject  to  him  who  did  put  all  things 
under  him,  that  God  ma}^  be  all  in  all." 
.  What  God  has  joined  together  let  no  man  put 
asunder.  God  has  joined  together  reason  and  re- 
ligion, responsibility  and  freedom,  faith  and  works, 
scientific  progress  and  spiritual  growth,  the  love 
of  God  and  the  love  of  man.  Jesus,  who  is  both 
Son  of  God  and  Son  of  man,  is  the  natural  leader 
of  the  human  race.  On  the  loftiest  summit  which 
the  reason  can  climb,  we  still  find  him.  In  the 
lowest  depths  of  human  sorrow  and  sin,  this  great 
friend  is  still  by  our  side.  AYhen  our  e3'es  close 
to  all  earthly  sights,  this  divine  brother  is  near  us, 


.54  CHRIST  AND   CHRISTIANITY. 

to  sustain  and  cheer  with  a  hope  full  of  immor- 
tahty.  As  the  world  advances  on  the  vast  high- 
way of  progress,  Christ  will  not  become  less 
human  or  less  divine,  but  more  so. 

Sometimes,  in  reading  the  New  Testament,  I 
find  the  proof  of  the  inspiration  of  the  writer  not 
only  in  the  grandeur,  but  also  in  the  subtlety  of 
his  thought.  One  instance  of  this  is  in  the  ad- 
vice of  the  Apostle  Paul  to  those  scrupulous  and 
somewhat  narrow  Christians  in  Corinth,  who 
would  not  buv  a  piece  of  meat  in  the  market 
until  they  had  made  sure  that  it  had  not  come 
from  the  altar  of  Aphrodite  or  Zeus,  where  it  had 
been  laid  as  an  offering.  These  punctilious  Chris- 
tians would  not  touch  the  meat  which  had  been 
once  put  upon  the  altar  of  an  idol.  The  liberal 
Christians  in  Corinth  ridiculed  them  for  this,  and 
laughed  at  all  such  narrowness.  Paul  said  :  "  Let 
not  him  that  eateth  despise  him  that  eateth  not ; 
and  let  not  him  that  eateth  not  judge  him  that 
eateth."  The  keenness  of  his  intuition  made  the 
apostle  select  the  precise  words  which  in  all  times 
express  the  feehngs  with  which  orthodox  Chris- 
tians and  liberal  Christians  are  apt  to  regard  each 
other.  Narrowness  judges  breadth  ;  breadth  de- 
spises narrowness.     The  man  who  considers  him- 


CHRIST  AND    CHRISTIANITY.  55 

self  an  advanced  thinker  looks  with  contempt  on 
what  seems  to  him  stupid  conservatism.  The 
servant  of  the  letter,  on  the  other  hand,  denounces 
as  an  infidel  and  a  heretic  whoever  walks  in  the 
freedom  of  the  spirit. 

Let  us  not  judge  each  other,  and  let  us  not  de- 
spise each  other,  but  open  our  hearts  to  all  the 
light  and  love  which  God  shall  send  to  us,  know- 
ing that  we  shall  all  stand  before  the  judgment- 
seat  of  the  eternal  truth  of  God.  When  there, 
we  shall  have  little  cause  to  be  proud,  whether  of 
our  orthodox  opinions  or  of  our  rational  Christi- 
anitj',  but  shall  be  grateful  if  God  has  helped  us 
to  be  an^'  thing  or  to  do  an}'  thing  for  him. 


III. 

THE   BIBLE. 

WHAT  is  the  Bible,  and  Where  did  it  come 
from  ?  ' '  The  Bible  "  means  ' '  The  Book," 
and  it  is  "  The  Book  of  books."  No  other 
scriptures  of  man  compare  with  it  for  wide,  deep, 
and  CTer-oTowinof  influence.  It  is  the  hio-hest 
work  of  its  class, — that  is,  of  the  sacred  wiitings 
of  mankind,  and  these  sacred  writings  are,  among 
all  other  writings,  the  most  important  and  influ- 
ential. 

Ever}'  commanding  race,  every  vast  civilization, 
has  been  directed  and  controlled  b}'  its  sacred 
writings.  The  hundred  and  fift}'  millions  of 
Hindoos  have  been  ruled,  during  twentj'-five  cen- 
turies, b}'  their  Vedas  and  Puranas.  Chinese 
civilization  has  taken  its  stamp  from ' '  The  Kings  " 
and  the  "  Four  Books."  The  brilhant  career  of 
the  Persian  empire  was  inspired  throughout  b}^ 
the  Zend-Avesta.  The  tribes  of  Arabia  were 
gathered,  moulded,  banded,  and  wielded  in  a 
resistless  tide  of  conquest,  b}'  the  Koran.     The 


58  THE   BIBLE. 

sacred  books  of  the  Buddhists  have  been  the 
leaven  of  civilization  among  a  third  part  of  the 
human  race  during  a  vast  period  of  time.  If  we 
judge  them  b}'  their  influence,  these  are  the  great 
books  of  the  human  race.  But,  for  various  rea- 
sons, the  Bible  stands  above  them  all.  The  others 
are  the  books  of  particular  races,  —  of  the  Hindoos 
onh',  or  the  Mongols,  or  the  Persians,  or  the 
Chinese ;  but  the  Bible  has  a  constituency  com- 
posed of  all  the  races  of  the  world.  The  others 
belong  to  deca3'ing,  arrested,  or  dead  civilizations  ; 
the  Bible,  to  the  advancing  and  all-conquering 
races,  who  stand  for  the  highest  civihzation  at- 
tained on  this  planet.  The  others  are  either 
narrow  or  shallow  in  some  directions :  the  Bible 
is  a  fountain  whose  waters  feed  intellect,  heart, 
life  ;  promoting  the  highest  worship  as  well  as  the 
largest  humanit3\  This  supreme  value  of  the  Bi- 
ble has  been  recognized  b}'  thinkers  of  all  schools. 
Walter  Scott  expresses  the  orthodox  idea  in  the 
lines  which  he  puts  in  the  mouth  of  the  White 
Lad}*  of  Avenel :  — 

"  Within  this  awful  volume  lies 
The  mystery  of  mysteries. 
Happiest  they  of  human  race 
To  wliom  our  God  hath  granted  grace 


THE  BIBLE.  59 

To  read,  to  hear,  to  liope,  to  pray, 
To  lift  the  latch  and  force  the  way  ; 
But  better  had  he  ne'er  been  born 
Who  reads  to  doubt  or  reads  to  scorn." 

Another  writer,  who  is  not  usually  supposed  to 
reverence  the  Bible  too  much,  —  Theodore  Parker, 
—  thus  speaks  of  it.  I  gladly  quote  his  words 
to  show  that  he  is  not  that  merely  destructive 
radical  he  is  often  believed  to  be  :  ' '  This  collec- 
tion of  books  has  taken  such  a  hold  on  the  world 
as  no  other.  The  literature  of  Greece,  which  goes 
up  like  incense  from  that  land  of  temples  and 
heroic  deeds,  has  not  half  the  influence  of  this 
book  from  a  nation  alike  despised  in  ancient  and 
modern  times.  It  is  read  of  a  Sabbath  in  all  the 
ten  thousand  pulpits  of  our  land.  In  all  the  tem- 
ples of  Christendom,  its  voice  is  lifted  up,  week  by 
week.  The  sun  never  sets  on  its  gleaming  page. 
It  goes  equalh-  to  the  cottage  of  the  plain  man 
and  the  palace  of  the  king.  It  is  woven  into  the 
literature  of  the  scholar,  and  colors  the  talk  of  the 
street.  ...  It  blesses  us  when  we  are  born,  gives 
names  to  half  Christendom,  rejoices  with  us,  has 
S3'mpa;th3'  with  our  sorrowing,  tempers  our  grief 
to  finer  issues.  .  .  .  Now  for  such  effects  there 
must  be  an  adequate  cause.     That  nothing  comes 


60  TIIK   BIBLE. 

of  nothing  is  trne  all  the  world  over. .  It  is  no  light 
thing  to  hold,  with  an  electric  chain,  a  thousand 
hearts,  though  but  an  hour.  What  is  it,  then,  to 
hold  the  Christian  world,  and  that  for  centuries? 
.  .  .  Some  thousand  famous  writers  come  up  in 
this  centur}^,  to  be  forgotten  in  the  next.  But 
the  silver  cord  of  the  Bible  is  not  loosed,  nor 
its  golden  bowl  broken,  as  tens  of  centuries  go 
b}'.  .  .  .  There  must  be  in  the  Bible  mind,  heart, 
soul,  wisdom,  and  religion.  Were  it  otherwise, 
how  could  millions  find  it  their  lawgiver,  friend, 
and  prophet?  Some  of  the  greatest  of  human 
institutions  seem  built  on  the  Bible  :  such  things 
will  not  stand  on  heaps  of  chaff,  but  on  moun- 
tains of  rock."  (Discourse  of  Religion,  pp. 
302-304.) 

If,  then,  we  ask,  "  What  is  the  Bible?"  the  an- 
swer is,  "  The  Word  of  God."  But  this  answer 
takes  two  shapes,  which  I  am  now  to  consider. 

One  answer  —  and  that  the  most  common  in  the 
Protestant  church  —  sajs  :  It  is  "the  Word,"  by 
being  inspired  throughout  b}"  God,  in  everj^  book, 
ever}'  page,  ever}'  chapter,  ever}'  verse,  every 
word.  It  is  infalhble  all  through.  Every  part  is 
consistent  with  every  other  part,  and  with  all 
truth.     If  it  contradicts  astronomy  or  geology,  so 


THE   BIBLE.  61 

much  the  worse  for  them.  If  it  contradicts  his- 
toric monuments  and  records,  then  thej  are  false. 
If  it  seems  to  contradict  itself,  this  is  onl}^  in 
appearance.  It  is  the  AVord  of  God  throughout,  — 
from  Genesis  to  Revelation  ;  and  "  better  had  he 
ne'er  been  born,  who  reads  to  doubt"  a  word  of 
an}'  part  of  it,  from  Genesis  to  Revelation.  This 
is  the  theory  of  infallible  verbal  inspiration. 

The  other  answer  to  the  question,  "  How  is  the 
Bible  the  Word  of  God?"  is  that  it  is  filled  with 
the  Spirit  of  God.  As  we  read  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, we  ever3'where  feel  the  presence  of  divine 
power  and  justice  ruling  the  world.  The  world 
and  its  affairs  are  all  guided  and  governed  by 
God,  who  will  reward  good  and  punish  evil.  It  is 
a  revelation  ever^'where  of  Divine  law.  As  we 
read  the  New  Testament,  we  are  in  the  presence 
of  a  heavenh'  Father  of  an  infinite  tenderness, 
who  pours  blessings  on  the  good  and  the  evil,  and 
desires  to  save  ever}'  child.  The  Old  Testament 
is  inspired  b}'  the  sense  of  Divine  laAv,  the  New 
Testament  b}'  the  sense  of  Divine  love. 

But  its  unit}',  its  sacredness,  its  power,  is  of 
the  spirit,  not  the  letter.  There  is  no  infallibility 
about  its  geology,  astronomy,  or  history ;  but  its 
spirit  is  everywhere  one.     This  spirit  is  developed 


02  THE  BIBLE. 

more  and  more  from  the  earliest  to  the  latest 
books.  The  Old  Testament  grows  more  spiritual 
in  the  Psalms  and  Prophets  than  in  Kings  and 
Chronicles.  The  New  Testament  comes  to  fulfil 
the  Old,  —  not  to  contradict  it,  but  to  complete  it. 
The  summit  is  reached  in  the  life  and  words  of 
Jesus,  which  are  full  of  the  highest  truth. 

In  order  to  discover  which  of  these  views  is  the 
true  one,  we  must  see  where  the  Bible  came  from. 
Our  Bible  is  the  Enghsh  Bible.  But  the  English 
Bible  is  a  translation,  for  the  Bible  was  written 
originalh-  in  Hebrew  and  Greek.  Therefore,  if 
the  doctrine  of  verbal  inspiration  is  true,  not  only 
must  the  authors  have  been  miraculously  preserved 
from  error,  but  the  translators  also.  Our  present 
English  Bible  is  a  translation  (called  the  Author- 
ized Version) ,  made  by  fifty-four  scholars  by  the 
command  of  James  the  First.  They  were  not 
left  free  to  translate  according  to  their  conscience 
and  knowledge,  but  were  ordered  to  follow  certain 
rules.  Thej'  were  not  allowed  to  make  a  new 
translation,  but  only  to  correct  an  older  one. 
They  took  the  libert}^  of  translating  the  same 
Hebrew  or  Greek  word  sometimes  by  one  Enghsh 
word,  and  sometimes  b}^  another.  And  now  we 
ask  whether  they  were  infallibl}'  inspired  always 


THE  BIBLE.  63 

to  choose  the  right  word  in  their  translation  ?  No 
one  pretends  that  the}'  were ;  but,  if  not,  the 
whole  theory  of  infallible  verbal  inspiration  falls 
to  the  ground. 

Take,  for  example,  the  Greek  words,  "krima" 
and  "  krisis,"  which  are  translated  in  our  Bible 
sometimes  "judgment,"  sometimes  "condemna- 
tion," and  sometimes  "  damnation."  Our  English 
Bible  makes  Paul  sa}'  that  he  who  eats  the  Lord's 
Supper  unworthily  ' '  eats  and  di'inks  damnation  to 
himself."  But  it  does  not  make  Jesus  say,  "  For 
damnation  I  have  come  into  the  world ; "  but, 
"  For  judgment  I  have  come  into  the  world  ;  "  and 
yet  the  word  is  the  same.  Our  translation  does 
not  translate,  "This  is  the  damnation,  that  hght 
has  come  into  the  world  ;  "  but,  "  This  is  the  con- 
demnation." Here,  too,  the  word  is  the  same. 
So  the  word  ' '  hades  "  is  translated  in  one  place 
"the  grave,"  and  in  other  places  "hell."  If, 
therefore,  we  are  to  consider  our  English  Bible 
verbally  inspired,  then  the  translators  must  have 
been  inspired  to  decide  whether  in  such  texts  it  is 
hell  that  is  spoken  of,  or -only  the  grave.  But,  as 
no  one  believes  this,  it  is  certain  that  our  English 
Bible,  at  any  rate,  cannot  be  verballj'  inspired. 

How  is  it,  then,  with  the  Greek  or  Hebrew  Bi- 


64  THE  BIBLE. 

ble,  from  which  they  translate  it?  As  the  books 
of  the  New  Testament  were  written  in  the  first 
and  second  century,  and  as  printing  was  not  dis- 
covered till  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century,  it  is 
evident  that  these  books  were  copied  in  writing  by 
scribes  during  thirteen  or  fourteen  hundred  years. 
Were  these  copyists  all  infallibl}-  inspired,  so  as  to 
make  no  mistakes  ?  Certainly  not ;  for  then  the 
manuscripts  now  extant  would  not  differ  from 
each  other  as  they  do.  In  the  1,500  manuscripts 
of  the  whole  or  parts  of  the  New  Testament 
which  have  been  compared  together,  more  than  a 
hundred  thousand  various  readings  have  been 
found,  —  mostl}'  unimportant,  but  some  of  great 
consequence.  Now,  unless  some  one  is  infallibly 
inspired  to  distinguish  between  these  various  read- 
ings, we  cannot  have  a  verball}'  inspired  Bible. 
If  you  open  your  New  Testament  at  1  John  v.  7, 
you  will  find  the  following  verse :  ' '  There  are 
three  that  bear  record  in  heaven,  the  Father,  the 
Word,  and  the  Hol}^  Ghost,  and  these  three  are 
one."  This  passage  is  the  onlj'  one  in  the  New 
Testament  in  which  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity 
seems  to  be  plainl}^  taught.  And  this  passage  is 
wanting  in  all  the  Greek  manuscripts  except  two 
modern  ones  ;  in  all  the  ancient  versions  ;  even  in 


THE  BIBLE.  65 

the  copies  of  the  Yulgate,  before  the  tenth  cen- 
tun' ;  in  all  the  Church  Fathers,  —  even  those 
who  were  discussing  the  Trinit}^,  and  who  quoted 
the  verses  before  it  and  after  it ;  and  is  now  uni- 
versall}^  admitted  to  be  no  part  of  the  Epistle  of 
John.  Yet  it  stands  in  all  our  EngUsh  Bibles, 
and  is  read  and  quoted  as  if  it  were  a  part  of  the 
inspired  Word. 

But  let  us  suppose  that  somehow  we  have  cer- 
tainl}^  possessed  ourselves  of  the  original  text  of 
the  inspired  writers :  there  is  still  another  ques- 
tion. AVho  collected  the  books  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testament,  and  decided  that  these  were  the 
inspired  writers  ?  In  other  words,  who  fixed  the 
canon?  Who  was  infalliblj^  authorized  to  say 
that  these  particular  books,  and  no  others,  out  of 
all  Jewish  and  Christian  literature,  should  be  put 
together  in  the  Bible?  The  answer  is.  No  one. 
The  Bible  was  not  thus  formed.  It  came  together 
gradually,  on  the  principle  of  the  survival  of  the 
fittest.  Books  which  were  at  first  a  part  of  the 
Bible  dropped  out  of  it.  Others,  which  were 
rejected  b}^  many  at  first,  have  finall}'  become 
estabhshed  in  the  canon  as  a  part  of  the  sacred 
Scriptures. 

Not  long  ago,  in  the  convent  of  St.  Catherine 
5 


66  THE   BIBLE. 

on  Mount  Sinai,  a  Russian  scholar  discovered  an 
ancient  MS.  of  the  New  Testament,  which  proved 
to  be  the  oldest  known.  It  goes  back  to  the 
fourth  centur}^  and  one  waA'  b}'  which  its  age  is 
determined  is  that  it  contains,  among  the  other 
books,  the  Epistle  of  Barnabas,  which  ceased  to 
be  a  part  of  the  New  Testament  after  the  fourth 
centur}'.  Barnabas  was  the  companion  of  Paul, 
and  is  called  a  prophet  in  the  New  Testament, 
and  is  said  to  be  a  good  man,  full  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  and  of  faith.  He  was  sent  to  Jerusalem 
^ith  Paul  to  attend  the  first  Christian  council. 
He  joined  the  church  at  the  very  first,  and  showed 
his  zeal  by  selling  his  land  and  giving  the  proceeds 
to  his  need}^  fellow  Christians.  He  introduced 
Paul  to  the  church,  w^ent  with  him  on  his  mission- 
ary journeys,  and  is  called  an  apostle  in  the  New 
Testament.  Now,  an  epistle,  beheved  to  have 
been  written  b}'  him,  was,  for  this  reason,  put 
among  the  Scriptures  of  the  New  Covenant,  and 
remained  in  them  two  or  three  hundred  A'ears. 
Then  it  dropped  out,  —  and,  if  3'ou  wish  to  know 
wh}',  read  it  and  3'ou  will  see.  Not  because  of 
an}'  doubts  entertained  in  those  days  of  its  authen- 
ticity, for  it  was  repeatedly  quoted  by  Clement 
and  Origen  as  a  genuine  work  of  Barnabas.     I^ut 


THE  BIBLE.  67 

it  is  full  of  tasteless  allegories,  —  it  has  no  Treight, 
no  substance,  —  and  evidently  it  was  left  out  of 
the  New  Testament  because  it  was  not  fit  to  sta}' 
in.  What  books  belong  to  the  New  Testament 
has  not  been  settled  even  now.  The  Koman 
Cathohc  church  puts  into  the  Bible  the  Old  Testa- 
ment Apocr^^ha,  which  most  Protestants  reject. 
Criticism  has  not  definite^  settled  in  regard  to 
two  or  three  of  the  books  of  the  New  Testament, 
whether  they  are  genuine.  How,  then,  can  we 
pretend  that  ever}'  part  of  the  present  Bible  is  in- 
falhbly  the  Word  of  God? 

Another  objection  to  this  doctrine  of  verbal 
inspiration  is  that  it  repels  many  persons  from 
Christianity,  and  is  the  cause  of  much  infidelity. 
There  are  often  honest  and  intelhgent  men  who 
cannot  receive  the  geology  or  astronomy  of  the 
Book  of  Genesis,  or  man}^  of  the  miracles  of  the 
Bible.  Tl^e}'  are  told  that  if  the}'  do  not  beheve 
that  Joshua  stopped  the  sun  in  his  course,  and 
that  the  whale  swallowed  Jonah,  they  have  no 
right  to  beheve  in  Jesus  Christ.  So  they  are  re- 
jected from  Christianity.  One  remarkable  illus- 
tration of  this  is  to  be  found  in  the  French 
philosopher  Rousseau,  whose  name  has  been  iden- 
tified with  infidelity,  when  he  was,  in  truth,  the 


68  THE  BIBLE. 

most  religious  man  among  the  great  thinkers  of 
his  own  time  and  land.  In  his  book  on  education, 
"  Emile,"  he  gives  his  creed  in  regard  to  Christ. 
He  puts  Christ  far  above  all  other  teachers  the 
world  has  seen,  and  is  read}^  to  accept  him  as  his 
master  in  religion,  because  of  his  wonderful  life 
and  death.  "  Do  not  compare  him  with  Socrates," 
he  cries.  ''  Socrates  died  like  a  philosopher :  Je- 
sus died  like  a  God."  As  to  his  miracles,  sa3's 
Rousseau,  I  can  neither  receive  them  as  facts,  nor 
can  I  reject  them.  I  admit  my  ignorance  con- 
cerning them,  — the}'  may  have  been  true,  — onl}' 
I  cannot  sa}'  that  I  believe  them.  But  I  can  be- 
lieve in  Christ  on  other  gi'ounds,  — because  of  his 
wonderful  character  and  marvellous  teaching.  On 
these  gi'ounds  I  can  be  a  Christian.  But  this  was 
not  considered  sufficient  b}'  the  church,  and  he  was 
banished  from  France  because  of  this  book  and 
these  statements.  He  went  to  Switzei'land,  and 
there,  in  a  small  town,  in  Neufchatel,  found  a  lit- 
tle Protestant  church,  which  received  him  on  his 
own  grounds,  and  there  he  had  a  religious  home, 
and  partook  with  them  of  the  Lord's  Supper. 

At  the  beginning  of  my  ministr}',  I  had  a  church 
in  Kentuck3\  There  I  found  man}'  persons  who 
were  reputed  to  be  infidels,  and  thought  them- 


THE  BIBLE.  69 

selves  so,  and  whose  influence  was  against  Chris- 
tianity, simph'  because  the}'  could  not  accept  the 
verbal  inspiration  of  the  whole  Bible.  One  man 
I  knew,  one  of  the  best  of  men,  upright  and 
honorable,  benevolent  and  kind,  who  was  called 
an  infidel.  When  I  asked  him  about  it,  he  said, 
""  Yes,  I  have  thought  mj'self  so,  and  for  this  rea- 
son, —  when  I  was  3'oung,  I  heard  a  minister  sa}^, 
taking  a  Bible  in  his  hand,  '  Every  thing  between 
these  lids  is  the  Word  of  God,  and  if  jou  do  not 
believe  it  you  will  be  damned.'  I  said,  '  If  this 
is  Christianit}^,  I  must  be  an  infidel.'  But  now  I 
have  changed  mj'  mind.  I  do  not  think  that 
Christianity  requires  me  to  believe  every  word  in 
the  Bible,  and  so  I  can  gladly  be  a  Christian." 

Wh}',  then,  is  this  doctrine  of  the  infallible 
verbal  inspiration  of  the  Bible  still  maintained? 
Not  because  the  Scripture  itself  claims  any  such 
infallibility :  it  does  not.  It  is  indeed  said  that 
'•  all  Scripture  is  given  b}^  inspiration,"  but  not 
that  this  inspiration  is  infallible.  Inspiration  is 
one  thing,  infallibilit}"  another.  The  great  poets, 
Homer,  Dante,  Shakespeare,  are  called  inspired, 
and  trul}',  because  thej'  have  an  inward  illumina- 
tion which  shows  them  forms  of  truth  and  beauty 
and  goodness  unseen  b}'  common  men.     But  this 


70  THE  BIBLE. 

inspiration  does  not  preserve  them  from  mistakes. 
It  does  not  make  them  infalhble.  Take  the  four 
Gospels  and  compare  them  with  each  other.  One 
spirit,  one  life,  pervades  them  all :  it  is  the  life 
of  Christ.  But  the}'  frequenth'  contradict  each 
other  in  details.  If  3'ou  demand  verbal  and 
minute  accuracj^  their  whole  storv  falls  to  the 
ground,  and  we  lose  our  Master.  The}-  differ 
from  each  other  openly  and  franklv  all  the  way 
through  as  regards  outward  incidents.  But,  as  to 
the  substance  of  the  stor}',  the}'  are  one.  They 
differ  as  to  the  details  of  Christ's  resuiTection,  but 
that  he  really  rose  from  the  dead  they  are  fully 
agreed.  If  it  is  necessary,  in  order  to  beheve 
Christianity,  to  have  verbal  accuracy  in  the  Scrip- 
tures, one  cannot  believe  Christianity  at  all,  for 
the  Scriptures  cannot  be  verbally  accurate  when 
they  differ  even  in  unimportant  minutiae.  But  it  is 
not  necessary.  What  we  need  is  to  be  certain  as  to 
the  main  facts  of  Christ's  life,  teaching,  and  char- 
acter. And  we  can  be  certain  of  these,  just  as 
we  are  certain  of  the  main  facts  in  the  life  and 
character  of  Alexander  the  Great,  Dr.  FrankUn, 
Juhus  Caesar,  General  Washington.  No  one  pre- 
tends that  those  writers  from  whom  we  derive  our 
information  concerning  such  persons  were  infal- 


THE  BIBLE.  71 

libl}'  inspired,  3'et  we  are  at  least  as  sure  of  the 
main  facts  of  their  lives  and  character  as  we  are 
of  the  main  facts  of  the  life  of  Abraham,  Samuel, 
or  David.  We  are  more  sure  that  Julius  Caesar 
crossed  the  Rubicon  on  his  way  to  Kome,  and 
that  Dr.  Franklin  was  in  London  before  the  Revo- 
lution, than  that  Jesus  went  to  Jerusalem  at 
the  beginning  of  his  miuistr}' ;  for  all  writers  are 
agreed  as  to  the  one,  and  the  four  Evangelists  are 
not  agreed  as  to  the  other. 

Mau}^  arguments  have  been  brought  to  prove 
the  theory  of  verbal  inspiration,  some  of  them 
very  ingenious.  But  the  difficult}'  with  them  all 
is  that  they  merely  aim  at  showing  that  the  Bible 
ought  to  be  verball}'  inspired,  not  that  it  is  so. 
The  fact  remains  that  it  is  not  so  inspired,  since 
it  is  in  some  places  opposed  to  science,  in  others 
to  histor}',  and  in  others  to  itself.  One  curious 
fact  shows  that  this  doctrine  is  supported  b}'  the 
fear  that,  if  a  single  verse  of  the  Bible  is  admitted 
to  be  unsound,  the  authorit}'^  of  the  whole  will 
be  gone.  Scholars  of  all  denominations  admit 
that  there  are  mistranslations  and  interpolations 
in  our  Bible  which  ought  not  to  be  there.  Some 
3'ears  ago,  the  Committee  on  Versions  of  the  Amer- 
ican Bible  Society,  containing  eminent  scholars,  all 


72  THE   BIBLE. 

of  01-thodox  denominations,  prepared  an  amended 
edition  of  the  English  version.  They  did  not 
make  a  new  translation,  nor  amend  the  errors  of 
the  old  one,  nor  even  improve  the  text  where  it  is 
admitted  to  be  fault3\  They  only  corrected  some 
palpable  misprints,  and  altered  the  headings  of 
the  chapters  where  these  are  incomplete  or  false, 
or  where  they  are,  in  reaht}',  comments  on  the 
Scripture.  This  amended  version,  indorsed  by 
the  secretaries,  and  adopted  by  the  Board  of  Man- 
agers, was  printed  and  circulated  by  them  during 
seven  years,  and  was  then  suppressed.  This  was 
done  in  consequence  of  a  clamor,  raised  not 
mereh'  b}'  the  ignorant,  but  in  which  even  Reviews, 
Ecclesiastical  Bodies,  and  Auxiliar}'  Societies,  did 
not  hesitate  to  join.  I  asked  one  of  the  gentle- 
men, who  was  a  member  of  the  committee,  why 
this  was  done  ;  and  he  said  that  it  was  owing  to 
the  fear  that,  if  we  once  began  to  make  corrections 
in  the  Bible,  the  people  might  lose  their  faith  in 
it,  altogether. 

It  is  said,  "  Unless  we  beheve  the  Scriptures 
infallibh'  true,  there  can  be  no  authority  ;  and  we 
need  some  authority  to  rest  upon,  otherwise  all 
will  become  uncertain  :  and  then  there  will  be  no 
firm  convictions  about  an}'  thing."     I  admit  that 


THE  BIBLE.  73 

we  want  firm  religious  convictions.  I  go  further  : 
I  say  we  need  to  know  spiritual  things  just  as 
we  know  natural  things.  But  I  contend  that  the 
behef  in  a  verbal  inspiration  does  not  give  ns 
that  knowledge,  but  rather  hinders  it.  I  also 
maintain  that  we  need  to  trust  in  the  authority  of 
Jesus.  It  is  an  immense  help  to  have  confidence 
in  him  as  the  wa}',  the  truth,  and  the  life.  But 
to  trust  in  the  authority  of  a  teacher  is  not  knowl- 
edge :  it  is  only  the  door  to  knowledge.  You 
send  3'our  child  to  school,  and  it  is  right  that  he 
should  trust  in  the  teacher's  authority'  and  take 
what  is  taught  on  that  authority.  But,  if  it  ends 
there,  he  has  not  learned   an}'  thing.     Until   he 

has  made  his  teacher's  instruction  a  harmonious 

J* 

part  of  his  oion  knowledge,  he  does  not  know. 

Authority  is  a  door  by  which  we  enter  the 
vast  temple  of  truth.  It  is  a  guide  who  leads  us 
through  the  wilderness  to  the  Promised  Land. 
But  there  its  work  ends.  It  does  not  give  us 
knowledge,  — onh'  the  access  to  knowledge.  The 
true  authority  of  the  Scripture  is  this,  that  it  is 
a  book  made  sacred  by  the  love  and  respect  of 
man}'  generations,  —  a  book  which  has  brought 
comfort  and  jo}'  to  thousands  and  tens  of  thou- 
sands of  hearts,  —  which  has  been  the  means  of 


74  rilE  BIBLE. 

converting  sinners  and  of  edifying  saints.  Hence 
we  ought  to  approach  it  with  trust,  expectation, 
confidence,  and  read  it  to  find  what  it  has  to 
teach  us,  —  seeking  for  the  spirit  of  life  and  truth 
which  is  in  it.  But,  to  have  this  faith  in  the  Bible 
as  full  of  truth,  it  is  not  uecessar}'  to  beUeve  in 
its  perfect  accuracy  in  ever}'  respect,  nor  that  it 
has  been  preserved  by  a  miracle  from  all  error. 
No  one  beheves  that  Humboldt  was  infallibly 
inspired ;  but  what  authority  his  words  carrv ! 
No  one  believes  that  La  Place  was  infallibh'  in- 
spired to  write  the  "  Mecanique  Celeste."  It  has 
been  said  that  in  America  not  five  men  can  under- 
stand it ;  yet  his  views  of  the  universe  are  accepted 
by  all.  No  one  believes  the  '•  Nautical  Almanac" 
an  inspired  book  ;  but  it  is  such  an  authority  that 
thousands  of  vessels  trust  themselves  to  its  calcu- 
lations, and  thousands  of  lives  and  millions  of 
property  are  confided  to  its  accuracy. 

The  true  inspiration  of  the  Bible  is  not  of  the 
letter,  but  of  the  spirit.  Until  we  have  caught 
that  spirit,  all  the  dogmas  of  its  inspiration  avail 
nothing.  When  we  have  that,  we  do  not  need 
them.  The  spirit  of  the  Bible  is  one  all  through. 
From  Genesis  to  Revelation,  there  is  a  sense  of 
the  power  of  God.     It  all  brings  us  near  to  him. 


THE  BIBLE.  75 

Every  thing  is  looked  at  as  if  he  were  near  by. 
The  book  of  Genesis  teaches  that  God  is  the 
creator  of  all  things.  The  Persians  said  that 
the  stars  and  planets  were  gods.  Genesis  says  : 
"  God  made  them  all."  The  Egyptians  said  that 
plants  and  animals  were  gods.  Genesis  sa3's : 
"God  said,  Let  the  earth  bring  forth  herbs  and 
animals."  It  does  not  teach  geolog}',  but  mono- 
theism. 

Pass  on  to  the  stories  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  Jacob, 
Joseph.  What  ins^^iration  is  there  in  these  ?  3'ou 
ask.  Of  the  letter,  none  ;  but  there  is  the  spirit  of 
trust  in  a  providence,  near  Iw,  guiding  human  feet 
evermore.  Come  down  to  David.  He  was  a  fierce 
soldier,  a  wild,  passionate  man,  with  man}'  faults ; 
but  amid  them  all  there  was  a  love  of  right  and 
goodness ;  there  was  a  profound  sorrow  for  his 
sins,  and  a  perfect  trust  in  God.  When  David, 
tending  his  sheep  on  the  hillsides  of  Judaea,  sang 
his  song  of  trust,  and  said,  "The  Lord  is  my 
shepherd,"  the  Divine  inspiration  taught  him  a 
strain  which  will  echo  through  all  time. 

Then  turn  to  the  prophets.  The}'  were  stern 
and  solemn  figures,  —  awful  and  venerable  shapes, 
—  "going  in  the  heat  and  bitterness  of  their 
spirit."     But  they  were  firmly  convinced  of  the 


7G  rilK    BIBLE. 

ever-present  Divine  power.  Thej  stood  like  a 
rock,  hoping  against  hope.  The}'  cry  out  to  a 
backsliding  people,  "  Seek  je  the  Lord  while  he 
may  be  found."  "It  is  he  who  hath  measured 
the  waters  with  a  span,  and  comprehended  the 
dust  of  the  earth  in  a  measure."  This  is  the  in- 
spiration of  the  Old  Testament.  It  is  Divine 
power  around  us  all,  and  Divine  law  above  us  all, 
and  Divine  providence  guiding  us  all. 

In  the  New  Testament,  there  comes  another 
sense  of  sunny  piet^',  —  a  happy  atmosphere  of 
heavenly  love.  Listen  to  Jesus:  "Not  a  spar- 
row falls  to  the  ground  without  3'our  Father  ;  and 
ye  are  of  more  value  than  many  sparrows." 

"Be  ye  children  of  3'our  Father  in  heaven, 
who  causes  his  sun  to  rise  on  the  evil  and  the 
good ;  and  sends  his  rain  on  the  just  and  the 
unjust." 

"Consider  the  lihes  how  they  grow."  "K 
God  so  clothe  the  grass  of  the  field,  how  much 
more  will  he  clothe  3'ou." 

"  I  am  the  resurrection  and  the  life.  He  tliat 
believes  In  me  "  —  that  is,  who  accepts  my  truth 
and  trusts  in  my  word  —  "  shall  never  die."  He 
does  not  die  :  death  is  nothing  to  him.  He  passes 
on  and  up. 


THE  BIBLE.  77 

"Neither  do  I  condemn  thee;  go  and  sin  no 
more." 

"  What  man  among  3'ou  being  a  father,  if  his 
son  ask  bread,  will  give  Mm  a  stone?  How  much 
more  shall  3'our  heavenh^  Father  give  his  hoh' 
spirit  to  those  that  ask  him." 

Is  a  theor}^  of  plenary  inspiration  necessar}'  to 
enable  us  to  beheve  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  or 
to  utter  the  Lord's  Pra3'er?  Are  not  such  saj-- 
ings  their  own  authority?  And  what  did  Paul 
mean  when  he  said,  "  God  has  made  us  able  min- 
isters of  the  New  Testament,  not  of  the  letter,  but 
of  the  spirit^  for  the  letter  killeth,  but  the  spirit 
giveth  life"  ?  What  did  he  mean  but  exacth' 
what  I  have  been  contending  for  here?  Do  I 
need  any  theory  of  verbal  inspiration  to  be  satis- 
fied that  he  was  filled  b^'  a  Divine  spirit  when  he 
said :  "I  am  persuaded  that  neither  death  nor 
life,  nor  things  present,  nor  things  to  come,  can 
separate  me  from  the  love  of  God  in  Jesus 
Chiist"? 

Peter  and  James  and  John  are  not  repetitions 
of  Paul :  the}'  all  speak  in  their  own  language, 
but  one  spirit  runs  through  them  all.  When  John 
says,  "  He  that  loveth  dwelleth  in  God;"  when 
James  sa3's,  "  Pure  religion  is  to  visit  the  father- 


78  THE  BIBLE. 

less,  and  to  keep  one's  self  nnspotted  from  the 
world,"  —  they  said  the  same  thing  which  Paul 
said  in  declaring  that  "Love  is  the  fulfiUing  of 
the  Law,"  and  that  Love  is  greater  even  than 
Faith  or  Hope.  And  all  agree  with  the  great 
words  of  Christ,  when  he  taught  that  the  chief 
commandment  is  to  love  God  and  love  man. 

The  spirit  of  the  Bible  is  one  :  there  is  no  con- 
tradiction, no  opposition  there.  But  when  Paul 
sa^'S,  "  The  letter  killeth,"  he  utters  a  solemn 
warning ;  for  care  for  the  letter  has  alwa3's 
brought  a  chill  of  death  to  the  soul. 

It  is  not,  then,  because  we  wish  to  have  less 
respect  felt  for  the  Bible  that  we  oppose  this  theory 
of  the  letter,  but  because  we  wish  more.  If  this 
whole  theor}'  were  dropped,  we  should,  as  I  am 
convinced,  enter  far  more  into  the  spirit  of  the 
Bible.  The  Bible  would  then  no  more  be  re- 
garded merely  as  a  master,  but  rather  as  a  friend. 
Multitudes,  now  repelled,  would  be  attracted 
toward  it,  and  the  Bible  might  sa}'  to  Christian 
behevers,  as  Jesus  said  :  "  I  call  you  not  servants," 
blindly  obedient  to  an  unintelhgible  command ; 
"  but  I  call  3'ou  friends,"  intelligently  obeying 
what  3'ou  see  to  be  right,  intelhgentl}'  accepting 
what  you  see  to  be  true,  and  able  to  comprehend 


THE  BIBLE.  i9 

what  is  the  length  and  breadth  and  depth  and 
height  of  the  love  of  God. 

The  power  of  the  Bible  is  not  in  its  letter,  but 
its  spirit.  That  spirit  needs  no  support  from 
dogmas  or  theories  of  a  supposed  infallibility.  The 
Bible  may  be  proved  full  of  errors  as  regards 
science, — often  wrong  in  its  chronology  and 
history.  Its  saints  ma}'  be  ver^^  imperfect  char- 
acters ;  its  prophets,  mistaken  in  their  predic- 
tions ;  its  apostles,  men  of  like  passions  with 
ourselves,  and  sometimes  going  astra}'.  It  may 
be  true  of  them,  as  the}'  said  of  themselves : 
"We  have  this  treasure  in  earthen  vessels,  that 
the  excellenc}'  of  the  power  may  be  of  God,  and 
not  of  us."  But  what  is  the  chaff  to  the  wheat? 
The  power  of  the  Bible  is  that  it  brings  God  to 
man,  and  lifts  man  to  God  ;  that  it  shows  a  provi- 
dence reaching  through  all  historj',  and  whose 
everlasting  arms  are  below  all  things  ;  a  Father, 
whose  love  comes  down  into  the  heart  of  every 
child,  who  cares  for  us  all,  and  is  the  Saviour  of 
all.  The  H0I3'  Spirit  which  pervades  this  book  is 
The  Comforter.  It  brings  us  comfort  in  our  sor- 
rows, light  in  our  darkness,  hope  in  our  despair. 
When  all  the  scaffoldings  which  surround  the 
Bible  are  taken  awa}',  by  which  men  have  tried  to 


80  THE   BIBLE. 

prop  it  up,  the  world  will  begin  triil}^  to  recognize 
its  real  glor}'.  Kingdoms  fall,  institutions  perish, 
civilizations  change,  human  doctrines  disappear ; 
but  the  imperishable  truths  which  pervade  and 
sanctif}'  the  Bible  shall  bear  it  up  above  the  flood 
of  change  and  the  deluge  of  j-ears.  It  will  for 
ever  remain 

"  A  sacred  ark,  which  from  the  deeps 
Garners  the  life  for  workls  to  be, 
And  with  its  precious  burden  sweeps 
Adown  dark  time's  destroying  sea." 


IV. 


THE  CHURCH  AND  WORSHIP,  — WHAT  IS  TO 
BECO.ME  OF  THE  CHURCH  ? —  ANSWERS  OF 
THE  SCEPTIC,  THE  SECTARIAN,  AND  THE 
BROAD    CHURCHMAN. 

npHE  subject  of  this  chapter  is,  "The  Chris- 
-L  tian  Church,  aud  what  is  to  become  of  it?" 
And  I  shall  consider  three  answers  :  the  answer 
of  the  man  who  does  not  beheve  in  the  Christian 
church,  —  the  sceptic  ;  the  answer  of  the  secta- 
rian ;  and  the  answer  of  the  broad  churchman. 
TWs  question  of  what  is  to  become  of  the  Chris- 
tian church,  connects  itself  with  the  general  sub- 
ject of  the  essentials  and  non  -  essentials  in 
Christianit}^ ;  because  onl}^  that  which  is  essen- 
tial in  the  church  —  if  there  is  an}'  thing  essential 
in  the  church  —  will  be  found  remaining  in  the 
future. 

First,  as  to  the  sceptic.     His  answer  is  :  "  The 
days  pf  the  church  have  passed  hj.    It  is  a  dying 
institution.    There  will  be  no  church  in  the  future. 
6 


82  THE   CHURCH  AND    WORSHIP. 

There  will  be  no  church,"  he  continues,  "  because 
the  foundations  of  the  church  have  been  completel}' 
undermined  and  overthrown.  It  has  rested  on  the 
belief  of  its  supernatural  authorit}',  as  founded 
b}^  God  and  Christ,  and  as  essential  to  salvation. 
Its  worship,  its  sacraments,  its  priests,  have  been 
beHeved  necessar}-  to  save  the  soul.  But  this  be- 
lief is  passing  b}^,  and  will  soon  be  whollj'  gone. 
As  the  world  grows  more  enlightened,  its  faith  in 
this  supernatural  church  and  its  authorit}'  passes 
awa}'.  In  the  coming  3'ears,  there  will  be  none 
so  poor  as  to  do  it  reverence. 

"  Besides,"  argue  these  reformers  and  critics, 
"what  need  is  there  of  a  church?  We  do  not 
need  its  worship,  —  we  can  pray  to  God,  and 
worship  him  alone  in  our  closet,  or  in  the  groves 
which  were  God's  '  first  temples.*  What  need  of 
listening  to  sermons,  —  we  can  read  books,  or 
hear  lectures  on  science,  literature,  and  art. 
What  men  want  is  knowledge,  not  ceremonies. 
Newspapers  and  magazines,  lectures  and  colleges, 
are  the  teaching  church  of  our  time,  to  which 
all  men  go.  Philanthropic  societies  and  reform 
societies  are  the  workinof  church  of  this  aofe." 

"The  church  is  not  wanted,"  continue  our 
critics,    "and   is   even   in    the  wav.     It   usuallv 


THE   CHURCH  AND    WORSHIP.  88 

opposes  progress,  opposes  reforms,  or  else  wholly 
neglects  them.  It  leaves  the  abolitionist  to  free 
the  slave  ;  the  temperance  societies  to  reform  the 
drunkard :  it  turns  over  the  blind  and  the  idiots 
to  Dr.  Howe ;  the  ignorant  children  to  Horace 
Mann  ;  the  insane  to  Dorothea  Dix  ;  the  prisoners 
to  the  Prison  Discipline  Societ}' ;  our  suffering 
brute  relatives  to  the  Societ}'  for  the  Prevention 
of  Cruelt}'  to  Animals.  Ever}'  one  of  these  re- 
forms la}'  directl}-  in  the  way  of  the  church,  and 
it  passed  them  by.  The  church  should  have 
preached  deliverance  to  the  captives,  and  eman- 
cipation to  the  slave ;  the  church  should  ha^  e 
preached  knowledge  for  the  people,  should  have 
carried  help  to  the  blind  and  deaf  and  insane 
and  intemperate.  It  has  notably  failed  in  all 
these  duties.  Occupied  with  discussions  about 
theolog}' ;  engaged  in  controvers}'  about  more  or 
less  water  in  baptism  ;  the  exact  consequences  of 
Adam's  sin  ;  the  need  of  bishops  to  make  a  true 
church,  or  the  proper  sort  of  millinery  to  be  worn  by 
the  priest,  —  it  has  omitted  judgment,  mere}',  and 
faith.  It  cares  more  for  anise  and  cummin  than 
for  love  to  God  and  man.  In  Europe,  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  is  to-day  exerting  all  its  power  — 
as  it  always  has  done  —  to  help  the  kings  and  tiie 


84  THE   CHURCH  AND    WORSHIP. 

nobles  and  to  keep  down  the  people.  In  this 
country,  there  was  one  great  overshadowing  evil 
and  wrong, — that  of  slaver}',  —  and  the  church 
never  did  any  thing  to  remove  it,  not  even  with 
the  tip  of  its  fingers.  Awa}'  with  such  a  church  ! 
we  do  not  need  it,  and  will  have  none  of  it." 

I  have  stated  this  argument  in  its  full  force,  for 
you  can  ncA^er  satisfactoril}'  meet  an  opponent,  nor 
answer  his  objections,  unless  you  first  see  and  ad- 
mit their  entire  weight ;  and  I  think  we  must  con- 
cede that  most  Christian  churches  to-day  gTeatly 
fail  in  this  duty  of  curing  the  miseries,  the  wrongs, 
and  the  evils  of  the  world.  Occupied  in  making 
converts  to  a  creed,  or  proselytes  to  a  sect,  or  in 
awakening  men  to  seek  salvation  from  a  future 
hell  into  a  future  heaven,  they  have  neglected  the 
hells  around  them  here  and  the  heavens  that  might 
be  brought  down  upon  earth  to-day. 

This  is  the  account  which  Jesus  gave  of  his 
mission,  in  his  own  town,  in  the  presence  of  his 
friends  and  relatives,  and  at  the  beginning  of  his 
work:  "The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon  me,  be- 
cause he  hath  anointed  me  to  preach  the  gospel  to 
the  poor ;  he  hath  sent  me  to  preach  deliverance 
to  the  captives,  and  recovery  of  sight  to  the  blind  ; 
to  set  at  liberty  them  that  are  bruised  ;  to  preach 


THE   CHURCH  AND    WORSHIP.  85 

the  acceptable  3'ear  of  the  Lord."  In  our  daily 
pra3-er,  we  are  taught  to  pra}^  that  G  od's  ' '  will 
shall  be  done  on  earth  "  The  work  of  Christ,  as 
declared  b}-  himself,  is  to  heal  the  woes  and  wrongs 
of  this  world  ;  to  bring  libert}^  instead  of  slavery, 
peace  instead  of  war.  The  highest,  noblest  name 
ever  given  to  the  church  was  when  the  Apostle 
called  it  "  the  body  of  Christ."  When  Christ  was 
in  the  world,  he  had  his  own  earthly  body,  —  his 
feet,  with  which  to  walk  to  and  fro,  doing  good ; 
his  friendly  voice,  speaking  words  of  help  and 
good  will ;  his  blessed  hands,  touching  to  heal ; 
his  eyes,  full  of  love,  looking  on  friends  and  foes 
with  radiant  benediction.  Now  he  is  no  more 
here  in  outward  form  ;  but  his  spirit  is  still  here, 
and  needs  a  body  with  which  to  act.  The  church 
is  that  bod}',  —  so  says  the  Apostle  :  "  Now  3'e  are 
the  body  of  Christ."  Christ  should  look  love, 
through  the  eyes  of  the  church,  on  mankind ; 
should  heal  with  the  hands  of  the  church ;  the 
church  should  be  his  feet  to  go  about  doing  good  ; 
the  church  should  be  his  voice  speaking  pardon 
and  peace  to  the  sinner.  If  it  does  not  do  this, 
it  fails  of  its  dut}'  and  neglects  its  work. 

But  what  then  ?     Shall  we  say  that  because  it 
has  not  done  aU  its  work  it  must  be  abohshed  and 


86  THE   CIIURCn  'AND    WORSHIP. 

destro3-ed?  Here  I  think  our  friends  the  critics 
are  mistaken.  Man}-,  many  3-ears  ago,  when  the 
abolition  movement  was  comparativeh'  3'oung,  I 
went  to  Hingham  to  attend  an  anti-slaver^'  meet- 
ing. Coming  back  in  the  steamer,  it  grounded  on 
the  flats  in  the  harbor,  and  we  were  obliged  to 
sta}-  on  board  all  night,  waiting  for  the  rising  of 
the  next  tide.  Having  no  room  to  sleep,  we  held 
meetings  during  the  night.  Frederick  Douglass 
was  on  board,  and  in  one  of  his  speeches  he 
denounced  the  indifference  of  the  church  to  the 
wrongs  of  the  slave ;  and,  calhng  it  the  bulwark 
of  slaver}-,  said  that  it  must  be  broken  down  and 
destroyed  before  emancipation  could  come.  I 
recollect  replying  that,  admitting  it  was  the  bul- 
wark of  slavery,  it  need  not  follow  that  it  must 
be  destro3-ed  in  order  that  freedom  should  come. 
When,  after  the  campaign  of  Leipsic,  the  allied 
armies  arrived  at  Paris,  thej*  found  it  defended  by 
Marshal  Marmont  with  an  army  planted  on  the 
hill  of  Montmartre.  This  hill  was  then  the  bul- 
wark of  Paris.  But  the  allied  armies  did  not  say, 
"  AVe  must  destro}-  it;  we  must  tear  it  down." 
Xo  :  the}- said,  ''Let  us  take  it.  Let  us  occup}' 
it  with  our  own  troops."  And  thus,  if  the  church 
were  the  bulwark  of  slavery,  we  did  not  need,  and 


THE   CHURCH  AND    WORSHIP.  87 

ought  not  to  try,  to  destro}^  it,  but  rather  take  it 
and  occup}-  it  in  behalf  of  freedom.  That  reason- 
ing still  holds  good.  The  church  is  a  power.  The 
roots  of  it  are  planted  deep  in  the  heart  of  man- 
kind. Grant  that  it  is  an  imperfect  institution. 
Let  it  then  be  improved.  Others  ma}'  call  it,  if 
they  will,  the  Bride  of  Christ,  the  ark  of  safet}', 
the  pure  and  holy  mother  of  souls,  the  infallible 
and  spotless  bod}'.  Let  us  rather  name  it,  as 
Jesus  did,  a  company  of  disciples,  of  children 
met  to  learn.  The  word  disciple  means  simply  a 
learner,  a  scholar.  You  do  not  blame  a  learner 
because  he  is  ignorant.  Ignorance  is  his  qualifi- 
cation for  learning.  Christians  may  not  be  very 
wise  nor  very  good ;  but,  if  they  are  sitting  at 
Christ's  feet  to  learn  of  him,  then  they  are  his 
disciples  and  members  of  his  church.  Men  and 
women  of  culture  and  leisure,  with  opportunities 
for  reading,  for  social  intercourse,  educated  in 
piinciples  of  virtue,  surrounded  from  childhood 
by  examples  holding  them  to  goodness,  breathing 
an  atmosphere  saturated  with  Christian  influences, 
may  not  so  much  feel  the  need  of  the  Christian 
church  to  keep  them  from  going  astray.  But  let 
them  look  round  on  society,  and  judge  what  would 
be  the  consequences  if  the  institutions  of  rehgion 
should  disappear. 


88  THE   CHURCH  AND   WORSHIP. 

B}"  the  census  of  1870,  it  appeared  that  there 
were  then  in  the  United  States  63,000  church 
edifices,  with  accommodations  for  21,000,000  of 
people.  In  most  of  these  churclies,  rehgious 
services  are  held  ever^^  week.  In  GO, 000  places 
in  the  United  States,  men  and  women  and  children 
assemble  to  recognize  their  relations  to  an  infinite 
God.  to  be  told  of  their  obligations  and  duties,  to 
listen  to  the  words  of  the  Bible.  During  one  day 
in  seven,  the  rushing  tide  of  worldly'  cares  is  ar- 
rested, the  hot  struggle  for  wealth  and  power  is 
calmed,  and  men  look  up  out  of  time  into  eternit}'. 
In  these  60,000  churches,  people  come  together  on 
the  same  broad  platform  of  humanit}^,  —  the  dis- 
tinctions of  fife  are  set  aside  in  the  presence  of 
God ;  parties,  cliques,  social  separations  have  no 
place.  Suppose  all  this  to  come  to  an  end.  The 
church  fulfils  the  predictions  of  our  critics,  and 
disappears.  No  more  Sunda}^  rest,  no  more 
meeting  for  common  pra3'er  and  praise,  and  for 
listening  to  the  words  of  Jesus.  Sunda}^  soon 
grows  to  be  like  an^'  other  da^^,  —  and  one  mo- 
notonous, unbroken  flood  of  work,  care,  stud}', 
amusement,  sweeps  through  the  j'ear  from  Januar}' 
to  December.  Children  are  born,  and  no  baptismal 
water  consecrates  them  to  God ;  our  loved  ones 


TEE   CHURCH  AND    WORSHIP.  89 

die,  and  no  words  full  of  immoi'tal  hope  are  spoken 
oyer  them.  The  Bible,  no  longer  read  In  pnbhc, 
is  forgotten.  It  no  longer  stands  as  a  Divine  Law, 
commanding  man  to  love  his  neighbor  as  himself; 
to  overcome  evil  with  good  ;  to  do  justly,  and  love 
mere}",  and  walk  humbly  with  God.  Instead,  we 
have  the  daily  newspaper  and  the  monthl}^  mag- 
azine ;  instead  of  apostles,  political  editors ;  in- 
stead of  prophets,  13'ceum  orators.  AYe  shall 
have  science,  indeed,  and  art,  and  civilization  ; 
but  will  these  suppty  the  place  of  rehgion  ?  Will 
chemistr}'^  and  biology  take  the  place  of  the  love  of 
God?  Ci^dhzation  is  knowledge,  wealth,  luxurj^, 
art :  but  heap  'them  up  ever  so  high  around  3'ou  ; 
abolish  poverty,  give  comforts  and  luxuries  to  all, 
—  have  3^ou  abohshed  in  the  soul  the  need  of  God? 
The  church  alone,  of  all  human  institutions, 
speaks  to  us  of  immortalit}^,  of  heaven,  of  an 
Infinite  Father  and  Friend.  It  alone  supplies  the 
deepest  need  of  the  human  heart,  and  is  there- 
fore built  on  a  rock  ;  and,  no  matter  what  storms 
of  revolution  or  floods  of  change  ma}'  come,  it  will 
not  fall.  The  rock  on  which  the  church  stands  is 
not  a  creed  nor  a  miracle  ;  not  a  pope  or  a  priest ; 
not  superstition,  nor  ceremony,  nor  habit :  but  the 
everlasting  need  felt  by  the  earthh'  child  for  his 
heavenly  Father. 


90  THE    CHURCH  AND    WORSHIP. 

European  thinkers,  alienated  from  the  church, 
are  excusable  in  not  recognizing  it  as  created  by 
liuman  needs ;  for  there  it  is  an  estabhshment 
supported  b}-  the  power  of  the  State.  But  in  this 
countr}'  no  one  is  obliged  to  go  to  church,  or  to 
pa}'  for  pubhc  worship.  Yet  consider  its  progress 
here  during  twent}^  j^ears.  In  1850,  there  were 
38,000  churches  in  the  United  States;  in  1860, 
there  were  54,000;  and  in  1870,  63,000.  In 
1850,  the  church  property  in  the  land  was  valued 
at  87,000,000  of  dollars  ;  in  1860,  at  171,000,000  ; 
in  1870,  at  354,000,000.  During  those  ten  j^ears, 
which  included  the  ravage  and  desolation  of  the 
civil  war,  the  church  property  was  doubled.  This 
does  not  look  as  if  the  people  of  the  United 
States  think  that  the  church  is  not  needed,  or  as 
if  it  were  soon  to  come  to  an  end. 

So  much  for  the  answer  to  the  sceptic :  now  for 
the  answer  of  the  sectarian.  The  sectarian  is  a 
man  who  is  persuaded  that  his  own  particular 
denomination  is  to  swallow  up  all  the  rest.  If  he 
is  a  Roman  Catholic,  then  that  is  to  be  the  onlj- 
church  in  the  future.  If  he  is  a  Presb3i:erian  or 
a  Methodist,  then  he  beUeves  all  Christians  are  to 
become  believers  in  the  Assembh's  Catechism 
or  followers  of  John  Wesley.     If  he  is  an  Epis- 


THE   CHURCH  AND    WORSHIP.  91 

copalian,  he  calls  that  sect  '-'•the  church,"  and 
somehow  thinks  that  b}''  calhug  it  so  he  will  make 
it  so.  If  he  is  a  Baptist,  he  cannot  recognize 
anj  bod}^  of  Christians  as  a  church  of  Christ, 
wherein  men  are  not  baptized  b}^  immersion,  and 
confession ;  and  I  ought  to  say  —  for  we  have 
sectarians  among  the  Unitarians  —  that,  if  he  is  a 
Unitarian,  he  is  likel}^  to  believe  that  the  world 
are  to  be  followers  of  Dr.  Channing.  Thus,  while 
the  census,  which  is  truly  catholic,  tells  us  that 
there  are  63,000  churches  in  the  countr}-,  the  sec- 
tarian Roman  Catholic  sees  only  his  own  4,000  ; 
the  sectarian  Ei^scopalian,  his  own  3,000  ;  the 
sectarian  Presbyterian,  his  own  6,000  ;  the  sec- 
tarian Baptist,  his  own  13,000 ;  the  sectarian 
Methodist,  his  own  21,000. 

These  conceits  are  childish,  and  would  be  inno- 
cent, did  they  not  weaken  that  union,  co-operation, 
and  brotherl}'  love  which  are  essential  elements  of 
Christianit}'.  Sectarianism  fosters  spiritual  pride  ; 
it  lays  stress  on  forms ;  it  encourages  maldng 
proselytes  to  a  party  instead  of  making  converts 
to  God.  Instead  of  contending  against  evil,  the 
churches  fight  with  each  other.  Each  tries  to 
exalt  itself  at  the  expense  of  its  neighbor,  for- 
getting that  those  who  exalt  themselves  shall  be 


92  THE   CHURCH  AND    WORSHIP. 

abased;    forgetting,    also,  that    if  one    member 
suffer,  all  must  suffer  with  it.     IIow  foolish  it  is  to 
suppose  that  au}'  one  denomination  is  to  swallow 
up  all  the  rest !     If  an}'  one  were  likely  to  do  so, 
it  would  be  the  Roman  Cathohc,  —  the  largest,  the 
oldest,  the  best  organized  of  all.     There  is  some- 
thing imposing  in  its  vast  assumptions,  in  its  un- 
changeable polic}',  its  uniform  aspect,  in  Europe  or 
America,  Asia  or  Austraha.    Manj-  look  with  alarm 
on  its  rapid  growth  in  this  country-,  in  numbers, 
in  wealth   and  influence.     Its   organs  speak  with 
proud  confidence  of  its  coming  power,  when  it  is 
to  conquer  all  the  Protestant  denominations  and 
reign  alone.     An  idle  hope  !     If,  in  the  sixteenth 
centur}',  when  it  possessed  aU  Europe,  it  was  not 
able  to  resist  the  Reformation  or  to  put  it  down, 
how  can  it  succeed  in  regaining  its  power,  when 
it  is  opposed  not  onh'  by  the  Greek  Church  and 
the  Protestant  Church,  but  b}'  the   progi'ess   of 
civilization   and  the  spirit  of  the  age?     As  one 
church  among  many,  it  has  done  great  services, 
and  can  do  more.     But,  by  claiming  too  much,  it 
is   in   danger  of  losing  all.     The   nations  which 
rejected    it  —  German}',    England,    Scandinavia, 
Russia,  and  the  United  States  —  have  advanced 
from  weakness  to  power,  and   have  become  the 


THE   CHURCH  AND    WORSHIP.  93 

leading  States  of  the  world.  The  countries 
which  clung  to  it  —  Spain,  Itah',  and  Austria  — 
have  gone  down  from  power  to  weakness ;  and 
these  nations  are  now  throwing  off  its  authority, 
and  are  likely  to  become  its  most  radical  oppo- 
nents. 

Regarding  the  Catholic  Church  as  a  church,  I 
respect  its  influence  and  wish  it  all  success.  Look- 
ing at  it  as  a  sect,  seeking  to  conquer  all  the 
others,  I  regard  it  as  pursuing  an  unattainable 
chimera.  The  success  of  ever}'  church,  sect, 
party,  is  limited  by  its  power  of  meeting  certain 
human  needs.  There  are  men  and  women  who 
are  made  to  be  Catholics ;  others  made  to  be 
Methodists ;  others  to  be  Presbyterians,  Sweden- 
borgians,  Quakers,  Episcopalians,  Unitarians. 
Each  man  is  benefited  and  made  happy  b}'  being 
in  the  place  which  suits  him, — where  his  mind 
and  heart  are  most  at  home,  where  his  soul  is  fed 
with  meat  convenient  for  it.  Some  men  can  be 
made  better  b}'  one  form  of  faith  and  worship, 
some  by  another.  Therefore,  we  need  all  churches 
and  all  denominations,  in  order  to  meet  all  wants. 
There  is  the  same  essential  truth  and  the  same 
essential  love  in  all.  All  teach  the  same  piety 
and  the  same  morality.    They  teach  from  the  same 


94  THE   CHURCH  AND    WORSHIP. 

Bible,  tlie}^  sing  the  same  h3'miis,  they  offer  the 
same  pra^-ers.  There  is  not  one  sort  of  honesty 
for  Baptists  and  another  for  Methodists.  Epis- 
copalians and  Quakers  have  the  same  kind  of 
charit}'  for  the  poor  and  sympathy  with  the  suf- 
fering. There  may  be  diversities  of  gifts,  but 
there  is  the  same  spirit ;  and  there  ma}^  be  differ- 
ences of  administration,  but  the  same  Lord ;  and 
diversities  of  operations,  but  the  same  God. 
Among  all  these  varieties,  there  is  one  Lord,  one 
faith,  one  baptism,  one  God  and  Father  of  all, 
who  is  above  all,  and  through  all,  and  in  them  all. 
No  one  church  will  swallow  up  the  rest,  so  long 
as  the  Lord  makes  men  different  from  each  other 
in  tastes  and  qualities  of  mind.  A  Methodist, 
happ}'  when  he  can  be  moved  emotionall}',  and 
have  a  good  warm  time,  is  chilled  by  the  atmos- 
phere of  a  Unitarian  or  even  an  Episcopal  church. 
One  man  finds  his  joy  in  reading  Swedenborg, 
while  another  would  starve  on  that  diet.  Many 
members,  but  one  bod}- .  We  ought  to  rejoice  that 
ours  is  not  the  onl}^  church,  since  we  cannot  feed 
all.  We  ought  to  thank  God  that,  since  we  can- 
not become  all  things  to  all  men,  other  things  be- 
sides ours  are  provided,  that  all  maj'  be  satisfied. 
Some  denominations  are  the  Master's  e3-e  and  ear. 


THE   CHURCH  AND    WORSHIP.  95 

witli  which  he  can  see  and  hear  ;  another  his  feet, 
with  -n  hich  he  can  walk ;  another  his  hand,  with 
which  to  touch  and  heal.  If  the  whole  bod}^  were 
the  ej'e,  where  were  the  hearing?  If  the  whole 
bod}'  were  hand,  where  the  walking?  Let  not, 
then,  the  head  sa}'  to  the  feet :  "I  have  no  need 
of  you."  For  God  hath  set  in  the  church,  first, 
Roman  Catholics  ;  next,  the  Greeks  ;  then  the  Lu- 
therans ;  after  that,  EpiscopaUans,  Baptists,  or 
Presbyterians,  for  the  perfecting  of  the  saints, 
for  the  work  of  the  ministr}',  for  the  edifying  of 
the  bod}'  of  Christ. 

I  go  some  Sunda}'  into  an  old  school  Presbyte- 
rian church,  and  sit  down.  It  is  communion  Sun- 
da}',  and  the  minister  proceeds  to  "fence  the 
table,"  as  it  is  called  ;  in  other  words,  to  say  who 
must  not  partake  of  the  Master's  feast.  I,  being 
a  Unitarian,  am  shut  out.  He  can  keep  me  from 
the  bread  and  wine,  symbols  of  my  Master's  truth 
and  love  ;  but  can  he  keep  me  from  my  Master 
himself  ?  No :  if  I  have  faith  in  Christ,  the 
fences  faU  before  it.  I  sit  at  my  Lord's  feet.  I 
am  blessed  by  his  love.  I  hear  him  say  :  "  Son, 
be  of  good  cheer ;  thy  sins  are  forgiven  thee  ! " 
We  are  all  one  in  Christ  Jesus.  The  barriers 
have  fallen  away,  and  I  am  in  the  midst  of  my 
brethren. 


90  rilE    CHURCH  AND    WORSHir. 

Perhaps,  then,  I  open  the  hymn-l)ook.  and,  as 
I  turn  the  leaves,  I  find  in  it  hymns  by  Watts  and 
Wesley,  Heber  and  ^lontgomery,  and  the  Roman 
CathoUc  Faber ;  and  here,  in  the  midst  of  this 
goodly  compan}'  of  psalmists  and  saints,  I  find, 
"Watchman,  tell  us  of  the  night,"  or  "In  the 
Cross  of  Christ  I  glor}',"  b}'  tlie  Unitarian,  Bow- 
ring ;  or  "Sleep,  sleep  to-da^',  toiTuenting  cares," 
by  the  Unitarian,  Mrs.  Barbauld  ;  and  directly  my 
Presbj'terian  friends  begin  to  sing,  "Nearer,  my 
God,  to  Thee,"  by  the  Unitarian,  Sarah  Flower 
Adams.  Then  I  say,  the  hymn-book  is  the  t3pe 
of  the  truly  Catholic  Church  which  is  to  be ;  for 
here  are  collected  singers  of  ever}*  sect  and  every 
name ;  and,  as  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  they  all 
speak  in  our  own  tongue,  in  which  we  were  born. 
The  hymn-book  shows  that  piet}',  or  love  to  God, 
is  always  essentialh^  one  and  the  same  thing,  in 
all  churches,  all  sects,  all  lands,  all  times. 

Mrs.  Barbauld,  whom  I  just  now  mentioned, 
has  a  little  apologue  to  show  that  charity  also,  or 
love  to  man,  is  the  same  thing,  in  all  sects  and 
churches.  A  mother  is  walking  with  her  little 
boy,  on  Sunda}',  in  the  streets  of  a  large  Qiiy. 
The  street  is  filled  with  people,  who  turn  into  the 
different  churches,  —  some  into  the   Estabhshed 


THE   CHURCH  AND   WORSHIP.  97 

church,  some  into  the  different  chapels.  And  the 
Httle  bo}'  wonders  why,  since  they  have  the  same 
Master,  they  should  go  in  such  different  directions. 
But  when  the  services  are  over,  and  the  people 
are  on  their  wa}'  home,  a  man  falls  in  the  street 
with  a  sudden  attack  of  illness  ;  and  then  a  Pres- 
byterian runs  up  and  lifts  him  from  the  ground, 
a  Methodist  runs  for  a  doctor,  a  Baptist  gets 
water  and  bathes  his  forehead ;  and  the  mother, 
turning  to  her  little  boy,  sa^'s :  "You  see,  my 
child,  that,  though  their  modes  of  worship  are 
different,  their  charity  is  the  same." 

The  broad  churchman  is  one  who  sees  and 
knows  that  all  Christian  churches  are  essentially 
one ;  that  piety  and  charity  are  the  same  in  all ; 
and  while  every  sect  and  denomination  is  an  indi- 
vidual member,  doing  its  own  work,  and  having 
a  right  to  its  own  place  and  sphere,  it  ought  not 
to  be  separated  from  the  rest.  It  is  only  in  the 
lower  conditions  of  organic  life  that  organs  can 
be  separated  from  each  other,  and  the  animal  con- 
tinue to  thrive.  In  the  higher  orders  and  classes, 
each  organ  is  necessarv  for  the  perfect  life  of  the 
whole.  The  Christian  church  is  in  a  low  condi- 
tion when  its  different  parts  are  disunited,  —  a 
foot  here,  a  hand  there,  and  the  head  apart  from 


98  THE   CHURCH  AND    WORSHIP. 

both.  Ill  the  future  and  higher  church,  every 
branch  will  be  more  active  in  its  individual  sphere, 
and  3-et  more  vitall}'  united  with  the  whole.  Their 
functions  will  remain  different :  their  life  will  be 
the  same. 

In  order  to  act  efficientl}^,  the  church  of  the  fu- 
ture must  be  thoroughly  organized.  But,  in  order 
to  meet  the  wants  of  all  i^arts  of  society,  it  must 
include  every  thing  valuable  that  is  in  all  existing 
churches.  It  must  take  in  Catholics  and  Protes- 
tants, and  have  place  and  work  for  all  who  love 
God  and  his  truth  sincerel3^  The  Roman  Catho- 
lic church  has  union,  but  not  freedom  ;  the  Protes- 
tant churches  have  freedom,  but  not  union  ;  the 
church  of  the  future  must  have  both.  Its  unities 
will  be  those  of  the  early  church,  —  •'  One  Lord, 
one  faith,  one  baptism,  one  God  and  Father  of  all, 
who  is  above  all,  and  through  all,  and  in  3'ou  all." 
Its  one  Lord  will  be  Christ  himself;  its  one  faith, 
trust  in  him ;  its  one  baptism,  the  answer  of  a 
good  conscience  towards  God  ;  its  God  will  be  the 
God  and  Father  of  Christ,  who  is  the  universal 
friend.  All  who  so  beheve  in  Jesus  as  to  co- 
operate in  doing  good  and  getting  good  will  be 
received  as  his  disciples. 

The  church  of  the  future   will  contain  ditfer- 


THE    CHURCH  AXD    WORSHIP.  99 

ences  of  ceremom'  and  ritual,  and  will  allow  per- 
fect libei-t}'  of  opinion.  It  may  include  the  solemn 
liturgy  and  the  extemporaneous  pra3'er.  the  ma- 
jestic anthem,  and  the  Quaker  silence.  For  some 
minds  are  most  influenced  by  the  one,  and  some  by 
the  other ;  so  the  future  church,  like  the  Apostle 
Paul,  will  become  all  things  to  all  men,  that  it  may 
saye  all.  If  there  are  those  to  whom  the  light 
seems  more  religious  when  dimmed  by  passing 
through  richly  colored  and  storied  windows,  it  will 
proyide  for  them  the  yast  cathedral  with  naye  and 
choir  and  transepts  and  lofty  spire.  If  any  are 
benefited  by  haying  their  clergy  dressed  in  surplice 
and  stole,  in  haying  holy  water  and  incense,  the 
benign  church  will  furnish  all  this,  but  not  make 
any  of  it  essential.  But,  meantime,  it  will  be  a 
teaching  church,  a  working  church,  a  missionary 
church  ;  gi\ing  its  strength  to  saye  mankind  here 
as  well  as  hereafter.  Eyerj^where  it  will  oyer- 
come  eyil  by  good,  war  b}'  peace,  hatred  by  loye, 
error  b}'  truth,  ignorance  b}'  light,  ^ice  by  purity, 
unbelief  b}'  faith. 

The  church  of  the  future  will  conyert  the 
heathen  to  Christ,  not  by  threats  and  terror,  not 
by  denunciation  or  pictures  of  Diyine  wrath  ;  but 
by  making  actual  Christianity  like  that  of  Christ 


100  THE  CHURCH  AXD    WORSHIP. 

himself.  When  Christendom  is  lifted  up  to  a 
higher  Christianity,  it  will  draw  all  men  unto  it. 
When  the  Christian  world  grows  more  pure, 
upright,  noble,  generous,  then  the  fulness  of  the 
Gentiles  will  come  in.  The  great  evils  and  wrongs 
which  now  oppress  humanit}'  will  melt  under  the 
influence  of  this  Christian  love,  as  the  icebergs 
from  the  pole  dissolve  in  the  warm  currents  from 
tropic  seas. 

The  time  will  come  at  last  —  long  foretold  by 
prophet  and  sibvl,  long  retarded  b}'  unbelief  and 
formalism  —  when  wars  shall  cease,  and  the  reign 
of  just  laws  take  the  place  of  force  in  the  gi-eat 
federation  of  mankind.  As  soon  as  the  church 
is  at  peace  with  itself  and  becomes  one,  it  will 
be  able  to  make  the  world  also  one.  Christ  will 
at  last  become  in  reaht}'  the  Prince  of  Peace,  put- 
ting an  end  to  war  between  nations,  war  between 
classes  in  societ3%  war  between  criminals  and  the 
State.  In  trade,  instead  of  competition  we  shall 
have  co-operation,  and  all  industr}'  will  receive  its 
just  recompense.  Capital  will  be  reconciled  to 
labor ;  science  to  religion ;  reason  to  faith ;  lib- 
erty to  order ;  the  conservatism  which  loves  the 
stable  past  to  the  spirit  of  progress  which  forgets 
what  is  behind  and  reaches  out  to  that  which  is 


THE  CHURCH  AXD    WORSHIP.  101 

before.  This  will  be  the  coming  of  Jesus  in  the 
clouds  of  heaven  with  the  angels  of  God,  and  the 
spirits  of  the  just  made  perfect.  This  will  be  the 
new  Jerusalem,  coming  down  from  heaven.  This 
will  be  the  tabernacle  of  God  with  men,  when  he 
will  dwell  with  them  and  be  their  God.  Then 
shall  the  Lamb  of  God  be  the  light  of  the  world, 
and  the  nations  shall  walk  in  the  light  of  it ;  and 
there  shall  be  no  more  curse,  and  no  more  night, 
and  no  more  tears,  but  all  shall  drink  of  the  water 
of  life  freely. 

This  great  hope,  so  often  disappointed,  but  for 
ever  renewed,  must  at  last  be  realized.  It  was 
diml}-  seen  b}^  the  ancient  patriarch  herdsman, 
the  founder  of  faith  in  one  Supreme  Being  who 
might  be  the  friend  of  man,  to  whom  it  was 
revealed,  under  the  lonely'  stars  which  hung  over 
Ararat,  that  in  his  seed  all  the  families  of  the 
earth  should  be  blessed.  Further  on,  David  and 
the  prophets  caught  a  clearer  sight  of  the  heavenly 
vision,  and  amid  the  rudeness  of  that  primeval 
age  declared  that  the  time  should  come  Avhen  the 
sword  should  be  beaten  into  a  ploughshare,  and 
the  heavens  rain  down  righteousness  upon  the 
earth.  Other  races  and  nations  had  a  like  vision 
of  a  kingdom  of  heaven  to  come  upon  the  earth. 


102  THE   CHURCH  AND    WO  It  SHIP. 

Virgil  caiiglit  it  from  the  mysterious  Sib}'!,  and 
declared  that  a  new  order  of  ages  was  to  begin, 
when  all  crime  should  end,  and  peace  return  to 
the  world.  The  Christian  church  has,  from  age 
to  age,  prolonged  the  song  of  the  angels,  of  a 
coming  glor}-  to  God  and  good  will  to  men.  It 
has  declared  that  Christ  is  to  return  and  reign 
upon  the  earth  in  love  and  truth.  Philosophies 
of  a  more  material  t^pe  have  also  chanted  this 
same  h^Tun  of  hope  for  humanit}',  and  prophesied 
an  earthl}'  paradise  to  come  from  communism  or 
the  sunival  of  the  tittest.  Such  a  hope,  for  ever 
renewed,  in  spite  of  perpetual  disappointments, 
must  indicate  some  conviction  in  the  soul,  so 
deep  as  to  assure  its  own  fulfilment.  ^Modern 
poets  look  to  America,  and  declare  that  the  star 
of  empire  takes  its  wa}'  westward,  and  that 
Time's  noblest  drama  is  to  find  here  its  stage 
and  its  triumph. 

"  The  seas  sliall  waste,  tlie  skies  in  smoke  decay, 
Kocks  fall  to  dust,  and  mountains  melt  away ; 
But  fixed  his  word,  liis  saving  power  remains  ; 
TJiy  reahn  for  ever  lasts,  thine  own  Messiah  reigns  ! " 


V. 


HOW  DOES  A  MAN  BECOME  AT  OXE  WITH 
GOD?  — CATASTROPHE  AND  EVOLUTION 
IN  RELIGION. 

THE  subject  of  this  chapter  is  "  The  Essential 
and  Non-Essential  Elements  in  Christian 
Experience  ;  or,  How  does  a  man  become  at  one 
with  God  ? "  I  have  also  added  the  title  of 
"Catastrophe  and  Evolution  in  Religion,"  as 
indicating  the  two  most  common  views  as  to  the 
way  in  which  every  man  in  Christ  becomes  a  new 
creature.  This  latter  phrase  is  borrowed  from 
geology,  in  which  the  two  prominent  theories  of 
the  formation  of  the  earth  are  that  of  gradual  and 
continuous  development,  of  which  Lj'ell  was  the 
chief  supporter,  and  that  which  declares  that 
the  earth  came  to  its  present  shape  after  nu- 
merous catastrophes,  of  which,  among  others, 
Clarence  King  has  recently  pronounced  himself 
an  advocate.  As  there  are  these  two  h3']^)othe- 
ses   as  to   the   method  by  which  the  primitive, 


104  HOW  DOES   A   MAN  BECOME 

chaotic  world  became  a  new  creation,  so  there 
are  two  similar  theories  concerning  the  process 
b}^  which  the  chaos  in  the  human  soul  is  trans- 
formed into  a  cosmos  of  order,  and  man  is  changed 
into  a  new  creature.  The  church  usuall}'  teaches 
that  man  has  fallen  into  sin,  and  that  his  nature 
has  become  so  depraved  that  every  human  being 
begins  his  moral  career  with  an  inevitable  bias 
to  evil  rather  than  to  good.  However  much 
the  old  doctrine  of  natural  and  total  depravity- 
ma}^  have  been  softened,  every  denomination 
claiming  to  be  orthodox  declares  that  ever}'  child 
is  fatall}'  inclined  toward  evil  rather  than  goofi. 
Therefore,  in  order  to  become  a  child  of  God, 
he  must  be  radically  changed.  He  must  become 
convinced  of  sin,  sensible  of  guilt,  filled  with 
penitence ;  and  then,  inspired  b}-  faith  in  the 
promises  of  the  gospel,  he  must  become  con- 
verted, and  so  be  made  a  new  creature.  Such 
an  entire  and  radical  change  is  usually  violent, 
sudden,  accompanied  with  deep  convictions. 
When  completed,  the  whole  heart  is  changed, 
—  the  man  now  loves  what  he  hated,  ami  hates 
what  he  before  loved.  After  this,  his  life  is 
wholl}'  altered ;  having  done  wrong  and  gone 
wrong  before,  he  now  begins  to  do  right  and  to 


AT   ONE    WITH   GOD'i  105 

go  right,  and  is  in  truth  and  realit}'  a  renewed 
and  transformed  person.  It  will  be  seen  that  the 
logic  of  such  a  radical  change  is  derived  fi'om  the 
assumption  of  a  universal  primitive  tendenc}'  to 
evil  rather  than  to  good.  Grant  this,  and  it  fol- 
lows that  a  catastrophe  must  take  place  when  man 
is  converted,  —  a  beneficial  and  blessed  catastro- 
phe indeed ;  like  those  which  changed  the  ragmg 
fires,  boiling  oceans,  and  bare  sti-ata  of  the  an- 
cient world  of  death,  into  these  fertile  plains,  for- 
ests and  seas,  full  of  life  and  jov. 

Everv  deep  and  long-held  belief  at  last  passes 
into  language.  Thus  in  the  popular  churches  it 
is  assumed,  in  the  language  of  the  pulpit,  that  all 
mankind  are  divided  into  two  classes,  the  pen- 
itent and  impenitent,  the  saints  and  sinners,  the 
converted  and  unconverted,  the  Christians  and  the 
unchristians.  As  the  people  come  out  of  the 
world  and  approach  the  gates  of  the  sanctuary 
on  the  Lord's  da}^,  they  seem  ver}'  much  alike : 
with  no  gi-eat  difference  among  them.  There  are 
good  people,  and  people  perhaps  not  quite  so 
good  as  they ;  but  it  is  impossible  for  any  man 
outside  the  church  to  draw  a  line  which  shall 
divide  them  all  into  two  classes.  But  the  mo- 
ment the}'  enter  the  building,  and  the  clergyman 


lOG  IIUW  DOES   A   MAX  BECOME 

looks  down  upon  them,  at  once  the\-  are  divided 
into  "  m}-  penitent  hearers  "  and  m}'  ''  impenitent 
hearers ; "  and  are  spoken  of  as  converted  or 
unconverted,  just  as  they  would  be  spoken  of  as 
Germans  or  Irislmien  or  Americans.  The  chief 
object  of  the  church  in  all  its  work  is  to  change 
the  second  class  into  the  first,  to  convert  sinners, 
and  to  bring  them  to  repentance.  It  is  assumed 
not  onh'  that  this  vital  and  radical  change  is  to 
take  place  in  all  persons  before  the}'  can  be  re- 
garded as  God's  children,  but  also  that  it  is  an 
evident  and  apparent  one,  that  vou  can  tell  a  con- 
verted man  from  an  unconverted  one,  just  as  3'ou 
can  tell  a  Frenchman  from  an  American.  More- 
over, this  belief  when  established  works  its  own 
fulfilment.  If  children  are  taught  from  the  first 
in  their  Sunday  schools  and  churches  that  they 
are  children  of  wrath,  that  the}'  are  radically-  sin- 
ful by  their  ver}'  nature,  that  they  do  not  love 
God  and  cannot,  until  the}'  are  essentially  changed, 
—  what  is  the  natural  result  ?  That  they  do  not 
try  to  do  what  is  impossible,  —  they  consider  them- 
selves outside  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  God  is 
not  yet  their  friend,  nor  Christ  their  Saviour,  — 
not  till  they  are  converted.  If  they  die  uncon- 
verted, they  die  without  hope.     One  of  two  things, 


AT   ONE    WITH   GOD'?  107 

then.  The}-  become  careless  and  indifferent,  hop- 
ing to  be  converted  at  some  future  time,  but 
meantime  meaning  to  enjoy  this  world  as  much  as 
possible.  Or  else  the}-  tr}-  to  be  converted,  and 
pra}-  and  agonize  to  pass  through  this  mj'stical 
experience,  till  at  last  a  reaction  takes  place,  some 
rest  comes  to  their  mind,  some  comfort  to  their 
heart,  and  they  joyfullj-  take  this  as  a  proof  that 
God  loves  them,  and  that  the}-  are  converted  to 
him.  Then  they,  too,  T\'ill  always  think  that  con- 
version is  something  sudden  and  painful,  and  will 
hold  to  the  theory  of  catastrophe  in  religion. 
Generalizing  their  own  history,  they  will  assume 
that  no  religious  experience  is  genuine  which  is 
not  stamped  with  such  marks  as  these. 

And  now  we  ask,  What  truth  is  there  in  this 
doctrine  ?  It  is  certainly  true  that  no  man  can 
serve  two  masters.  Every  one  must  be  ooino-  in 
the  right  way  or  the  wrong,  aiming  at  truth  and 
good,  or  not  aiming  at  it.  There  is  always  some 
ruling  motive  in  the  soul,  some  chief  purpose, 
eminent  desire,  overruling  wish,  to  which,  in  case 
of  conflict,  all  others  must  give  way.  Any  psy- 
chology which  ignores  this  fact  is  fatally  deficient. 
JNIan  was  made,  not  to  drift,  but  to  steer.  He  must 
choose  the  good,  and  refuse  the  evil.     If  he  does 


108  NOW  DOES  A   MAX  BECOME 

not  do  so,  he  virtually  chooses  the  evil ;  just  as  a 
citizen  mIio  does  not  mean  to  obe}'  the  laws  is  at 
heart  a  criminal,  read}'  to  disobey-  them  when  an}' 
occasion  comes.  In  an  arm}',  a  soldier  who  does 
not  mean  to  obey,  means  to  disobey ;  and  is  at 
heart  already  mutinous.  In  a  nation,  a  citizen 
who  does  not  mean  to  obey  the  government  is  at 
heart  a  rebel.  80  a  human  being,  in  whom  God 
has  placed  a  conscience,  making  distinction  be- 
tween right  and  wrong,  if  he  does  not  mean  to 
obey  his  conscience,  disobeys  it.  In  this  sense, 
it  is  certainly  true  that  he  who  is  not  with  God  is 
against  him.  And  in  all  such  cases  a  change,  to 
be  thorough,  must  be  a  delil^erate,  conscious  de- 
cision to  do  right  and  not  wrong  henceforth  and 
alwa3's. 

Again,  it  is  very  certain  that  a  large  number 
of  people,  even  in  Christian  communities,  have  no 
determined  purpose  of  right-doing.  Their  highest 
rule  is  not  the  law  of  God  in  their  conscience, 
but  some  human  law.  jniblic  opinion,  or  personal 
convenience.  The}'  are  not  steering,  but  really 
drifting.  They  have  no  infinite  Master  whom 
they  obey,  no  infinite  Father  whom  they  love,  and 
therefore  cannot  be  considered  as  having  any 
Christian  aim.     They  are  children  of  the  world, 


AT   ONE    WITH   GODf  109 

not  children  of  God.  As  long  as  it  is  easj-  to  do 
right,  the}'  will  do  it ;  as  long  as  it  is  prosperous 
to  be  just,  the}'  will  he  honest.  But  when  the  rains 
of  adversit}'  descend,  and  the  floods  of  temptation 
arise,  and  the  winds  of  trial  blow,  the}'  will  be 
likely  to  fall,  for  they  have  no  rock  of  a  divine  con- 
viction and  faith  under  their  feet.  Now,  these 
people,  though  they  may  be  very  pleasant  and 
agreeable  persons,  really  need  to  be  converted, 
just  as  much  as  an}'  convict  in  the  State  prison, 
for  they  are  no  more  serving  God  than  he  is.  It 
will  not  do  to  assume  that  all  respectable,  decent, 
and  well-behaved  peoi>le  are  necessarily  going  the 
right  way.  They  may  be  really  going  down,  not 
up,  —  slowly,  insensibly  perhaps,  but  steadily. 
And,  if  so,  then  they  must  be  called  upon  to  re- 
pent, and  to  make  themselves  a  new  heart  and  a 
new  spirit.  And  that  will  proliably  be  a  sudden 
change,  even  though  it  may  not  be  a  pubhc  or 
open  one.  It  is,  therefore,  no  wonder  that  there 
should  still  be  so  much  of  what  I  have  called 
catastrophe  in  religious  experience.  To  one 
whose  mind  has  not  been  imbued  with  the  sight 
of  eternal  reahties  from  childhood,  their  coming 
must  be  often  hke  that  of  the  earthquake,  the  fire, 
the  hurricane,  and  the  volcano,  rather  than  tbat 
of  the  still,  small  voice. 


110  now  DOES   A   MAN  BECOME 

What  are  the  essential  facts  in  this  Christian 
experience  ?  The}'  are  two,  —  the  two  which  Paul 
declared  to  be  the  sum  and  substance  of  his 
preaching  both  to  Jews  and  Greeks ;  that  is, 
the  essence  of  Christianit}',  when  disembarrassed 
of  an}'  thing  merely  Jewish  or  merely  Pagan. 
He  tells  the  elders  of  the  church  of  Ephesus  that 
he  had  kept  back  nothing  profitable,  but  had 
taught  them  in  public  and  private,  repentance 
toward  God  and  faith  toward  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ. 

Repentance  and  faith,  • — these  are  the  two  poles 
of  Christian  experience,  around  which  it  must 
ever  revolve.  Call  them  by  other  names,  if  you 
will,  —  '^  sin  and  pardon  ;  "  "  detemiination  to 
obey  God,  and  trust  in  his  love;"  "doing  our 
duty,  and  pra}'ing  for  help  to  do  it  right ;  "  "  law 
and  grace  ;  "  "  works  and  faith  ; "  or,  more  largely 
generalized,  "the  sense  of  responsibility  and  the 
sense  of  dependence,"  —  these  are  the  two  essen- 
tial elements  of  all  vital  religion.  Man,  born 
with  a  conscience  which  gives  him  the  idea  of  an 
eternal  law  of  duty,  of  an  everlasting  distinction 
between  good  and  evil,  light  and  darkness,  right 
and  wrong,  knows  well  that  he  ought  always  to 
choose  the  good  and  refuse  the  evil.     This  is  the 


AT   ONE    WITH   GODf  HI 

doctrine,  not  of  C'bristianit}'  or  Judaism  only,  but 
of  natural  religion  everywhere  ;  and  this  law  of  ob- 
Ugation  is  unchanging  and  eyerlasting.  This  law 
of  duty,  which  is  above  man,  is  also  in  man,  rooted 
and  fixed  in  the  very  texture  of  his  soul,  and 
we  never  can  escape  from  it  but  b}'  fulfilling  it. 
Conscience  sits  supreme  in  ever}'  soul,  an  absolute 
autocrat,  claiming  our  entire  allegiance.  We  can 
turn  from  it,  stultify  it  with  sophistrj-,  sear  it  with 
sin  ;  but  it  is  there  ahvays,  ready  to  reawaken,  — 
and  its  awakening  is  terrible.  Then  there  may 
be  a  shock  like  an  earthquake,  and  the  whole  soul 
maj'  tremble  to  its  centre,  listening  to  that  awful 
voice  as  to  the  trumpet  of  the  archangel.  If  the 
man  hearkens  to  it  and  determines  to  obey  it,  and 
to  live  for  what  is  right  at  all  hazards,  that  is 
the  first  step  of  Christian  experience.  This  is  re- 
pentance or  conversion.  It  is  turning  and  begin- 
ning to  go  the  right  ^Vi\. 

But  that  is  not  enough :  that  is  only  half  of 
w^hat  ail  men  need  for  spiritual  life  and  progress. 
To  determine  to  do  one's  duty,  no  matter  how 
hard,  in  spite  of  all  temptation,  —  that  is  the 
beginning,  the  Alpha  of  all  religion.  But  what 
shall  help  us  to  fulfil  this  purpose  ?  We  are  weak  ; 
evil  habit  is  strong ;  we  are  beset  b}'  temptation 


112  HO]V   DOES   A    ^fAN  BECOME 

without  and  within,  and  we  ciy  with  Paul,  "To 
v)ill  is  present  with  me,  hut  how  to  perform  that 
which  I  will  I  find  not."  AVe  resolve  to  do  right, 
and  presenth'  we  do  wrong.  We  find  a  law  in 
the  flesh  warring  against  the  law  of  the  mind. 
We  need  help  of  some  sort,  strength  to  do  what 
we  resolve  to  do,  for  a  resolution  alone  is  not 
enough.  Then  comes  the  second  great  fact  of 
Christian  exj^erience,  "Faith  toward  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ."  And  what  is  the  essential  thing 
in  this  faith  ?  Is  it  an}'  belief  about  his  rank  and 
power  in  the  universe,  such  as  the  Greek  theolo- 
gians quarrelled  about  for  three  centuries  ?  Is  it 
any  metaph^'sical  speculation  as  to  the  precise 
way  in  which  the  death  of  Jesus  made  it  possible 
for  God  to  forgive  sin?  Is  it  am'  profession  of 
faith,  or  verbal  declaration,  —  as  though  merely 
saying  something  about  Jesus  was  to  save  the 
soul?  Xo.  The  saving  faith  in  Jesus  Christ  is 
to  believe  as  he  believed,  trust  in  God  as  he 
trusted,  hope  as  he  hoped,  and  love  as  he  loved. 
Just  as  we  eat  and  drink  food,  and  it  becomes  a 
part  of  our  body,  — it  is  to  eat  and  drink  Christ, 
so  that  his  spirit  shall  enter  into  ours,  and  be  the 
life  of  our  soul.  It  is  to  trust  in  that  infinite 
tenderness  in  which  he  trusted ;  to  receive  that 


AT   ONE    WITH   GOD?  113 

boundless  compassion  which  Jesus  made  known  ; 
to  be  pardoned,  comforted,  and  made  at  peace 
with  God  b}-  the  truth  and  the  love  of  which 
Jesus  was  the  manifestation.  If  I  were  to  say 
that  "God  was  in  Christ,  reconciling  the  world 
unto  himself,"  I  should  sa}'  exactl}'  what  I  mj'self 
believe.  But  I  use  the  words  in  no  dogmatic  and 
doctrinal  sense,  but  as  expressing  the  fact  that 
what  we  see  of  God,  as  shown  b3^  Jesus,  is  that 
which  brings  the  soul  to  him,  and  fills  it  with  his 
peace.  When  we  see  Christ  as  he  was  and  is, 
we  look  through  the  character  of  Christ  and  see 
that  of  God  ;  see,  reflected  in  this  human  child, 
something  of  the  love  of  the  Infinite  Father. 
This  sense  of  God's  pardoning  and  saving  love  is 
the  Omega^  as  the  sense  of  dut}^  is  the  Alpha,  of 
ail  Christian  experience. 

But  now  we  must  ask  again,  Is  it  necessary 
that  this  experience  should  come  in  a  moment, 
suddenh',  and  with  a  great  commotion  of  the 
soul?  May  it  not  begin  in  the  earliest  childhood, 
be  increased  gradually  b}'  Christian  education, 
and  thus  grow  by  a  slow  but  continuous  process 
of  evolution  and  development  into  its  full  power 
and  efficacy  ?  A  large  part  of  the  church  declares 
that  it  ma}'.  In  the  first  place,  this  is  taught  b}' 
8 


114  HOW  DOES  A   MAN  BECOME 

all  the  sacramental  churches, — who  believe  that 
the  unconscious  infant  begins  its  spiritual  life 
when  the  baptismal  water  touches  its  brow  and 
the  benediction  is  pronounced  over  it.  Admit- 
ting the  doctrine  of  hereditary  depravity,  they 
escape  its  consequences  b}'  the  ordinance  of  infant 
baptism.  The  baptized  child  has  become  a  child 
of  God,  just  as  if  it  had  never  inherited  the  curse 
of  Adam.  Now,  all  that  it  needs  is  Christian 
education  and  Christian  sacraments,  to  keep  it 
from  going  astray.  And  if  the  only  way  of 
escape  from  the  cruel  theolog}^  which  declares 
ever}'  human  being  to  be  born  in  sin,  if  the  only 
escaj^e  from  this  were  to  believe  tliat  this  taint  is 
wiped  away  at  once  by  the  rite  of  baptism,  then  I 
should  pray  God  to  enable  me  to  believe  it,  and  I 
should  be  glad  to  join  the  Roman  Catholic  and  the 
high  churchman  in  this  sacramental  rescue  of  the 
innocents.  Let  the  evil  introduced  b}'  one  false 
theology  be  cured,  if  possible,  b}'  another.  Two 
theological  negatives  might  thus  destro}'  the  ne- 
gation. 

The  rational  Christian,  however,  takes  another 
and  a  better  wa}'.  He  admits  the  fact,  apparent 
to  all,  that  we  do  inherit  bodih'  tendencies  which 
may  be   temptations  to   evil.      Both   right-doing 


AT   ONE   WITH  GOB?  115 

and  wrong-doing  become  at  last  habits,  and  these 
habits  become  instincts,  and  are  transmitted 
from  generation  to.  generation.  But  it  does  not 
follow  that  there  is  an}^  irresistible  bias  to  evil, 
or  any  tendency  which  may  not  be  overcome  by 
education  and  example.  Faith  in  Christ  requires 
us  to  beheve  that  good  is  stronger  than  evil,  and 
can  overcome  it.  Instead  of  taking  for  gi-anted  that 
children  must  go  wrong,  let  us  rather  show  them 
that  we  expect  them  to  go  right.  Let  us  believe 
that  God  has  planted  in  ever}^  soul  aspirations 
for  goodness,  capacities  for  generosity,  the  love 
of  truth,  the  sense  of  justice,  —  and  let  it  be  the 
business  of  the  church  to  develop  these  genus  of 
a  true  life,  —  so  that  no  painful  conversion  shall 
ever  be  necessarv. 

I  suppose  it  is  a  matter  of  fact  that  the  ma- 
jority of  all  church-members,  even  in  those  de- 
nominations which  la}'  the  most  stress  on  sudden 
conversions,  have  become  Christians  by  education 
and  slow  development.  It  has  been  repeatedly 
declared,  in  Sundaj^-school  conventions,  that  sta- 
tistics show  the  majoritv  of  church-members  to  be 
the  children  of  Christian  parents,  brought  up  from 
childhood  in  the  faith  and  practice  of  the  gospel. 
The  theory  may  require  them  to  be  suddenly  con- 


11  f)  F/OW  DOES   A    MAN  BECOME 

verted  to  religion  :  the  lact  shows  that  they  were 
gradually  educated  to  rehgion.  The  proportion 
of  church-members  suddenl}'  converted  to  those 
who  were  educated  is  much  as  it  was  at  first  in 
the  company  of  the  Apostles.  Paul  was  con- 
verted in  a  moment ;  but  the  rest  of  the  Apostles 
were  educated  gradually  by  the  influence  and 
teaching  of  Jesus,  b}'  keeping  company  with  him, 
hearing  his  words,  and  seeing  his  works.  At  the 
last,  there  came  to  them  on  the  da}'  of  Pentecost 
the  tongues  of  fire,  enabling  them  to  preach  the 
word  with  efficacy.  But  that  could  hardlj'  be 
called  their  Christian  conversion.  It  was  the 
promised  power  from  on  high,  given  them  for 
the  preaching  of  the  Word.  This  history  of  the 
Apostles  therefore  shows  that  the  chief  method 
of  the  church  in  bringing  souls  to  God  should  not 
be  by  catastrophe  so  much  as  by  evolution.  We 
should  grow  up  in  all  things  into  Him  who  is  our 
Head. 

Other  arguments  of  the  evolutionists,  as  we 
shall  call  them,  who  are  in  favor  of  bringing  men 
to  God  b}^  a  gradual  education  rather  than  by  a 
sudden  conversion,  are  these:  "Is  there  not," 
they  sa}',  "  something  unnatural  in  the  very  notion 
of  these  violent  conversions?     We  admit  that,  if 


AT   ONE    WITH   GOD'^  111 

men  have  been  estranged  from  God  and  Christ, 
living  worldly,  selfish,  and  sensual  hves,  they  may 
find  their  return  to  the  right  way  accompanied 
with  a  shock.  If  people  have  become  lost  in  a 
forest,  they  ma}*  have  difficulty  in  getting  back  to 
the  road.  But  cannot  Christians  walk  directly 
forward  on  the  highway  to  heaven,  from  chikl- 
hood  ?  Is  there  not  such  a  way  ?  Did  not  Christ 
declare  himself  to  be  the  wa}-  ?  According  to  the 
theory  of  catastrophes,  there  \s  no  wa}',  no  reg- 
ular method.  The  Apostles  were  called  the  serv- 
ants of  the  most  high  God,  who  show  the  way  of 
salvation.  Modern  Protestant  Orthodoxy  is  in  a 
most  unsatisfactory  attitude.  The  business  of  the 
church  is  to  bring  the  world  to  God.  Then  it 
ought  to  know  exactly  how  to  do  it,  —  how  to  begin, 
how  to  go  on,  how  to  finish.  Such  is  the  case 
with  all  other  work.  If  a  man  is  to  build  a  house, 
he  does  not  bring  together  his  materials,  hire  his 
masons  and  carpenters,  and,  when  all  are  read}', 
sit  down  and  wait  for  some  sudden  shock  or  emo- 
tion b}'  which  they  shall  be  enabled  to  go  on  with 
their  work.  If  we  are  merchants,  lawyers,  teach- 
ers, blacksmiths,  we  do  not  wait  for  a  revival 
before  we  can  fulfil  our  engagements.  It  is  only 
in  convertins:  the  world  to  God. — the  most  im- 


118  now  DOES   A   .}fAN  BECO}fE 

portant  work  of  all,  — that  this  strange  s^'stem  is 
adopted.  Here,  there  seems  to  be  no  regular 
method  of  growth  in  goodness ;  but  we  must  use 
the  means  of  grace,  and  then  wait  for  the  result. 
Religion  is  to  be  obtained  by  some  supernatural 
method, — by  a  spasm,  an  agony,  a  struggle. — 
not  by  an}'  regular,  practical  work.  If  a  man 
washed  to  become  a  Christian  in  the  daj's  of  the 
Apostles,  he  went  to  them  and  said,  '  What  shall 
I  do  to  be  sayed?'  and  the}' answered  at  once, 
according  to  his  case,  either,  '  Repent  and  be  con- 
yerted,'  —  if  he  was  committing  some  sin,  —  or, 
'Belieye  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,'  —  if  what  he 
needed  was  faith, — or,  'Be  baptized,'  —  if  what 
was  wanted  was  an  open  ayowal.  But  now.  if  one 
asks,  '  What  shall  I  do  to  be  sayed?'  no  one  can 
exactly  sa}'  Ayhat  is  to  be  done.  There  is  a 
prolonged  struggle,  an  agony,  prayers,  tears,  — 
finally  there  may  or  there  may  not  come  relief  and 
comfort.  If  these  come,  it  is  assumed  that  the 
man  is  conyerted  ;  otherwise,  he  must  wait  and 
tr}'  again.  All  this  confusion,"  say  the  eyolution- 
ists,  ''  is  the  result  of  this  false  method  of  reliance 
on  catastrophes.  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 
does  better,  for  that  commits  no  such  blunder. 
No  doubt,  it  admits  reyiyals  into  its  s^'stem,  and 


AT   OXE    WITH   GOD?  119 

has  its  seasous  of  extraordinan'  attention  to  reli- 
gion. But  it  does  not  depend  on  them  to  create 
rehgion  in  the  sonl.  but  onh*  to  increase  its  glow 
and  power.  In  the  Roman  Cathohc  Church,  everj- 
baptized  person  is  taught  to  behere  himself  a 
Christian,  so  long  as  he  does  not  continue  in 
mortal  sin.  but  preserves  his  Christian  hfe  b}'  a 
regular  use  of  the  sacraments.  Ever}'  Roman 
Catholic  who  obej's  the  rules  of  his  church  is 
taught  that  he  is  safe  and  in  the  right  way.  In 
most  Protestant  churches,  if  its  children  born  and 
brought  up  in  it  are  Christians,  it  is,  so  far  as 
theology  is  concerned,  onh*  a  fortunate  accident." 
Another  bad  result  of  this  method,  sa}'  the 
evolutionists,  is  that  it  discourages  some  and  in- 
flates others.  He  who  has  not  been  able,  for 
some  reason,  to  obtain  these  inward  experiences, 
considers  himself  as  no  Christian,  having  no  part 
in  the  hopes  of  the  gospel.  He  who  has  been 
through  such  an  expeiience,  and  has  attained  a 
hope,  thinks  himself  safe.  He  is  safe,  he  beheves, 
because  of  his  past  experience,  not  because  of  his 
present  fidehty.  He  was  converted  at  such  a  time, 
so  he  trusts  that  he  is  right.  To  work  out  his 
salvation  b}'  deeds  of  charity  and  by  growth  in 
goodness  would,  he   thinks,  be   to  reh'  on  mere 


120  now  DOES   A   MAN  BECOME 

moralit}'.  Thereforo,  the  meml)ers  do  not  grow  in 
knowledge  or  in  grace,  as  they  otherwise  wonld. 
Hence,  the  reproach  often  made,  sometimes  un- 
jastty  indeed  but  sometimes  justl}^  that  church- 
members  are  no  better  than  others.  The}-  are 
not  taught  that  an}'  thing  depends  on  being 
better.  Most  stress  is  laid  on  conversion, 
little  on  progress.  Thus,  they  are  exposed  to 
great  temptation,  and  ma}-  be  led  into  spiritual 
pride,  which  so  often  goes  before  destruction.  Is 
it  not  possible,  it  is  asked,  that  some  of  the  moral 
disasters  which  have  befallen  leading  men  in  the 
church  are  owing  to  the  false  securit}'  which  such 
men  have  felt  in  consequence  of  this  theor3'that 
Christianity  consists  essentially  in  being  converted, 
not  in  leading  an  upright  life?  Therefore,  say  the 
evolutionists,  a  wholly  different  method  is  neces- 
sar}'.  'We  ought  to  take  our  little  children  at 
the  beginning,  and,  instead  of  trying  to  torture 
them  by  an  eifort  to  obtain  a  change  of  heart, 
teach  them  that  they  already  belong  to  God  and 
Christ,  and  that  the}'  are  in  the  kingdom  of 
Heaven  now.  Teach  them  that  so  long  as  they 
try  to  correct  their  faults,  obey  their  parents,  and 
fulfil  their  duties,  the}'  are  in  the  right  wa}'.  Teach 
them  to  pray  to  God,  not  as  aliens  or  outcasts, 


AT   ONE    WITH   GODf  121 

but  as  his  children,  and  to  grow  up  from  faith  to 
greater  faith.  Make  them  understand  that,  while 
the}'  are  thus  living  in  obedience  and  faith,  they 
are  in  the  peace  of  God,  and  have  a  right  to  all 
the  promises  and  hopes  of  the  gospel.  Teach 
them  that  the  work  of  life  is  to  get  good  and  to 
do  good.  Convert  sinners  b}'  the  same  doctrine  : 
make  them  understand  that  God  is  not  hidden  nor 
afar  off;  that  he  is  not  in  some  distant  heaven, 
nor  bcAOiid  some  far-off  gulf  of  space,  but  very 
nigh  to  us  all,  in  our  conscience  and  our  heart, 
read}'  to  help,  to  bless,  and  to  save  at  every  hour. 
These  are  the  two  theories  in  regard  to  the  way 
of  salvation,  —  which  is  the  true  one  ?  One  of 
these  theories,  it  will  be  seen,  lays  the  principal 
stress  on  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  life,  —  that 
is,  on  conversion  ;  the  other,  on  the  development  of 
the  Christian  hfe,  — that  is,  growth  in  goodness. 
Now,  according  to  any  theory  of  Christianit}',  both 
are  necessary.  Is  Christianity  a  journey,  a  "  Pil- 
grim's Progress  "  to  heaven  ?  Then  it  is  necessar}^ 
to  begin  the  journe}*,  to  be  sure  that  we  really  are 
intending  to  go,  and  that  we  have  begun  to  go. 
It  will  not  do  not  to  assume  that  all  men  are  on 
their  wa}'  to  heaven.  They  must  adopt  a  purpose, 
commence  a  work,  begin  to  go.  put  themselves  in 


122  now  DOES  A   MAX  BECOME 

the  rigiit  wa}- ;  and.  until  this  is  done,  nothing  is 
done.  So  far,  the  beUevers  in  catastrophes  are 
right.  But.  on  the  other  hand,  what  is  the  use 
of  beginning  the  journey-,  unless  we  go  forward? 
What  good  in  being  converted  to  God.  unless  we 
learn  to  obey  God  ?  The  object  of  Christianit}-  is 
to  change  this  world  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven ; 
but  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  not  meat  nor  drink, 
but  righteousness,  peace,  and  J03'  in  the  Holy 
Ghost.  It  is  to  do  justl}^  and  love  mere}'  and 
walk  humbly  with  God.  Unless  we  enter  this 
kingdom  of  truth  and  love,  what  good  in  passing 
the  portal?  The  onh'  advantage  in  beginning  to 
go  on  this  journey  is  that  we  should  keep  on  and 
arrive  at  the  end. 

Is  Christianity  a  hfe  ?  Then,  in  order  to  hve,  we 
must  be  born  ;  but,  unless  we  gi-ow  up,  what  good 
in  being  born?  The  Christian  hfe  is  one  of  faith, 
hope,  love,  obedience,  — the  life  of  God  in  the  soul 
of  man.  We  are  born  into  that  life  by  a  deter- 
mination to  obej^  God  and  do  his  will.  We  grow 
up  by  dail}-  obedience,  daily  trust,  daily  prayer. 

This  life,  as  we  have  seen,  consists  of  two  parts  : 
one,  which  depends  on  ourselves ;  the  other, 
which  comes  from  God.  The  part  which  depends 
on  ourselves  begins  with  repentance  and  conver- 


AT  ONE   WITH  GOD?  123 

sion,  and  goes  on  by  continued  well-doing.  It  is 
work,  all  through.  The  part  which  depends  on 
God  is  all  of  grace, — it  is  from  grace  to  grace, 
—  grace  ail  through.  It  was  b}'  the  grace  of  God 
that  Christ  came.  God  so  loved  the  world  that 
he  sent  his  Son,  our  brother,  to  show  the  wa}^  of 
salvation.  It  is  by  grace  that  he  comes  to  us, 
and  that  we  are  born  amid  the  promises  and  hopes 
of  the  gospel.  It  is  God's  grace  which  forgives 
our  sin  when  we  repent.  It  is  God's  grace  which 
leads  us  to  repentance  b}'  inspiring  faith  in  his 
love.  It  is  the  grace  of  God  which  invites  us 
to  pra}',  and  it  is  his  grace  which  answers  our 
pra3'ers,  takes  the  burden  from  the  heart,  and 
fills  it  with  his  peace.  All  we  have  to  do  in  order 
to  be  saved  is  to  work  and  to  trust.  There  are 
no  obscure  mj'steries  to  be  believed,  no  awful  bur- 
dens to  be  borne,  no  sin  which  cannot  be  pardoned 
if  we  repent,  nothing  to  do  but  what  God  will  give 
us  strength  to  accompKsh.  We  are  saved  b}'  faith, 
and  also  by  works.  If  we  had  not  faith,  we  should 
not  have  the  courage  to  work  ;  if  we  did  not  work, 
our  faith  would  soon  die,  — for  faith  without  work 
is  dead. 

Genuine  Christian  experience,  therefore,  may 
be  sudden  or  gradual,   or  both.      Conversion^  or 


124  now  DOES  A  MAX  BECOME 

turning  round,  is  always  sudden.  If  one  is  doing 
wrong  or  going  wrong,  he  cannot  too  suddenly 
begin  to  go  right.  But  going  forward  is  gradual, 
growth  is  gradual,  progi-ess  is  gi-adual.  The  com- 
ing of  God's  life  in  the  soul  is  like  the  coming  of 
spring.  A  little  while  ago,  all  was  cold  and  hard 
and  dead.  Now,  a  soft  breath  of  warm  odor  fills 
the  air,  the  life  stirs  in  a  million  buds,  the  gi-ass 
begins  to  grow  green  over  a  thousand  miles  of  mea- 
dow and  prairie,  a  wave  of  verdure  rolls  slowly 
up  from  the  south  over  the  northern  forests. 
Every  majestic  oak,  every  httle  bush,  shakes  out 
its  tender  leaves  to  welcome  the  coming  sun  ;  in- 
sects hum,  birds  carol,  the  fish  flashes  through  the 
stream.  80  is  the  coming  of  God's  love  and  truth 
in  the  human  soul.  As  the  earth,  in  spring,  turns 
itself  upward  toward  the  sun,  so  we  turn  our 
hearts  upward  to  God  in  submission  and  trust. 
As  the  sun  pours  down  his  answering  radiance, 
magnetizing  every  germ  into  advancing  hfe,  so 
the  spirit  of  God  descends  softly  into  all  willing 
hearts,  creating  a  new  vitaht}'  within.  There  en- 
ters the  soul  a  sense  of  pardon,  comfort,  and  peace  ; 
and  out  of  this  there  come  the  flowers  of  beautv 
and  the  fruits  of  goodness.  "  The  wilderness  and 
solitar}'  place  shall  be  glad  for  them ;  the  deseil 


AT   ONE    WITH    (JODt  125 

shall  rejoice  and  blossom  as  the  rose."  "The 
parched  ground  shall  become  a  pool,  and  the  thirsty 
land  springs  of  water."  "And  a  high  wa}' shall 
be  there,  and  a  way,  and  it  shall  be  called  the  way 
of  holiness :  the  wayfaring  men,  though  fools, 
shall  not  err  therein." 

On  this  deep  foundation  of  Christian  experience 
all  Christianit}'  rests.  It  is  the  solid  rock  beneath 
the  church,  —  Hke  Peter's  faith,  which  flesh  and 
blood  had  not  revealed  to  him.  but  the  Father  which 
is  in  heaven.  All  belief  in  Christ  and  Christi- 
anity, founded  on  hearsa}',  which  flesh  and  blood 
have  revealed,  is  unstable.  Human  teaching  ;  the 
authorit}'  of  others  ;  the  behef  of  parents  and 
friends  ;  the  outward  blessings  and  advantages  of 
religion,  —  these  are  only  like  John  the  Baptist, 
sent  to  prepare  the  way  of  the  Lord.  Xot  till  we 
come  to  God  ourselves,  b^'  personal  submission 
to  the  law  of  right,  personal  trust  in  his  all-suffi- 
cient love,  do  we  have  an}'  solid  Christianity. 
After  that,  if  we  speak,  we  speak  what  we  know 
and  testify'  what  we  have  seen.  If  men  fall  away 
from  religion  and  become  unbehevers,  it  is  be- 
cause the}'  have  never  really  had  any  true  reli- 
gious experience.  For  what  we  have  once  seen, 
once  known,  of  God,  Christ,  duty,  love,  immor- 


126      ITOW  DO   WE  BECO^fE  AT  ONE   WITH  GODf 

tal  hope,  is  a  possession  for  ever.  Heaven  and 
earth  ma}'  pass  aw^}' ;  but  this  Divine  word,  once 
seen  and  known,  shall  never  pass  away. 

On  this  solid  personal  experience,  the  whole 
future  of  Christianity  must  rest.  This  is  still  the 
rock  on  which  Christ  builds  his  church,  and  which 
will  for  ever  resist  all  that  can  injure  or  destroy. 
Out  of  this  deep,  broad,  hving  Christian  experi- 
ence, shall  come  that  future  church  of  Christ  which 
shall  combine  variety  with  unity,  works  with  faith  ; 
which  shall  be  broad  enough  to  adapt  itself  to 
all  human  diversity,  deep  enough  to  satisfy  all 
human  needs ;  so  progressive  as  to  walk  abreast 
with  all  human  development;  so  aspiring  as  to 
bring  down  God's  kingdom  to  this  world  and 
make  heaven  upon  earth.  But  the  Christian  ex- 
perience, out  of  which  all  this  grand  future  shall 
grow,  will  be  nothing  narrow,  nothing  formal,  and 
not  a  mere  confused  emotion.  It  will  be  the  vis- 
ion of  God's  truth  and  God's  love,  —  the  hght  of 
things  eternal.  It  may  come  suddenly  or  gradu- 
ally, but  it  will  be  always  essentially  the  same. 
It  will  always  consist  in  the  sight  of  the  Divine 
hohness,  justice,  truth,  order,  and  law,  —  producing 
obedience,  —  and  the  sioht  of  God's  pardoning 
love,  saving  grace,  spiritual  influence  to  redeem 
and  bless,  —  producing  faith,  hope,  love. 


VI. 


WHAT  AKE  THE  ESSENTIAL  REASONS  FOR 
BELIEVING  IN  A  FUTURE  EXISTENCE,  AND 
AVHAT   WILL   THAT   EXISTENCE   BE? 

I  HAVE  to  speak,  in  this  closing  chapter,  of  the 
essentials  and  non-essentials  in  regard  to  a 
future  life.  AVhat  are  the  essential  reasons  for 
believing  in  a  future  existence?  First  comes 
the  remarkable  fact  that  it  has  been  the  faith  of 
the  human  race.  In  all  ages,  lands,  civiliza- 
tions, races,  religions,  men  have  believed  in  a 
hereafter.  All  the  great  religions  have  taught  it, 
—  Zoroaster  and  Buddha,  from  the  far  East,  and 
from  out  of  a  gi'a}'  antiquity  ;  Brahminism ;  the 
religion  of  ancient  Eg3^t,  Greece,  Rome ;  these 
all  declare  with  one  consent  that,  if  a  man  die, 
be  shall  live  a^ain.  Poetr}',  legend,  romance, 
superstition,  agree  in  looking  out  of  time  across 
that  sea  of  one  shore  which  we  call  death,  and 
painting  pictures  of  the  other  land  which,  as 
the}^  take  for  gi-anted,  lies  unseen  be^'ond.  The 
most  savage  races  of  Africa,  or  the  islands  of  the 
Pacific,  are  haunted  b}^  the  teiTors  of  ghosts  and 


128       BELIEF   IN   A   FUTURE  EXISTENCE. 

spectres  whose  existence  is  a  part  of  their  fixed 
belief.  And,  when  we  ascend  to  the  other  ex- 
treme of  the  scale  of  human  development,  and 
commune  with  the  demi-gods  of  thought,  —  with 
men  made  little  lower  than  the  angels, — we  find 
the  childish  superstitions  of  the  ignorant  lifted  into 
a  calm  faith  in  immortality.  Among  the  events  of 
this  earth,  that  which,  with  one  exception,  touches 
our  hearts  most  deepl}',  is  the  long  conversation 
held  by  Socrates,  on  the  da}'  of  his  execution, 
with  his  disciples.  This  great  truth-seeker  de- 
A'otes  the  last  hours  of  his  life  to  considering  the 
arguments  for  immortalit}'  and  the  objections  to 
it,  and,  having  replied  to  all  the  objections,  looks 
forward  with  confidence  to  another  existence. 
Calm,  wise,  tender,  without  fear,  he  advances 
toward  death,  sure  that  death  will  onl}'  touch  his 
body,  not  his  mind.  AYhen  sunset  was  near,  he 
said  :  "  Let  the  poison  be  prepared,  —  for  it  is  best 
not  to  linger."  Crito  asked:  "How  should  you 
like  to  have  us  bury  you?"  Socrates  replied, 
with  a  smile  :  "  An}'  way  you  wish,  —  if  you  can 
only  get  hold  of  me.  Have  I  not  shown  you, 
Crito.  that  I,  who  have  been  talking  to  you,  am 
not  the  other  Socrates  who  will  soon  be  a  dead 
body?     Do  not  say,  then,  at  my  funeral,  '  Let  us 


BELIEF  IN  A   FUTURE   EXISTENCE.        129 

buiy  Socrates,'  —  for  such  words  are  not  onl}' 
false,  but  the}'  infect  the  soul  with  evil."  And 
when  we  pass  up  from  Socrates  to  one  still  gi*eater 
than  he,  — to  the  highest  of  all  human  souls, — 
we  find  him  saving  not  only  that  he  is  immortal, 
but  that  he  is  immortality.  Immortal  life  and  the 
resurrection,  or  the  rising  up  of  the  human  being, 
these  he  declares  to  be  the  verj^  essence  and  cen- 
tre of  the  true  man  himself.  "  I  am  the  resur- 
rection and  the  life  ;  he  that  believeth  in  me  "  — 
that  is,  he  who  believes  in  that  truth  which  is  the 
essence  of  my  being  —  ''he  shall  never  die."  In 
other  words,  the  soul  itself  is  essential  life,  and 
death  cannot  touch  it. 

I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  this  universal  belief 
in  a  hereafter  has  no  exceptions.  There  have 
always  been  a  small  number  of  doubters  who  have 
not  been  able  to  accept  this  doctrine.  There 
have  been  two  difficulties,  and  very  important 
ones,  which  have  staggered  them.  First,  there  is 
the  impenetrable  veil  which  hangs  between  us  and 
the  other  world.  It  is  so  strange  that  those  noble 
souls,  so  full  of  interest  in  this  life  and  in  human 
affairs,  should  pass  away  and  never  be  heard  of 
again  ;  that  those  hearts,  bound  to  us  by  an  affec- 
tion stronger  than  adamant,  should  leave  us  and 

9 
\ 


130       BELIEF  IN  A  FUTURE  EXISTENCE. 

never  come  to  us  any  more  I  If  the}'  were  alive, 
if  tliey  were  anywliere,  slionld  we  not  somehow 
know  of  it?  This  vast  human  procession  moves 
steadily  on,  and  the  instant  it  passes  that  low 
portal  of  death  it  disappears  from  our  knowledge 
for  ever.  This  fact  is  one  of  the  great  difliculties 
in  regard  to  a  future  life.  True,  there  has  alwaj's 
been  a  vague  belief  in  ghosts,  in  apparitions  of 
the  dead,  and  spiritual  manifestations ;  but  these 
have  been  so  vague  as  to  be  rather  an  alarm  than 
an  encouragement.  Another  great  difficulty  as 
to  our  continued  existence  is  the  dissolution  of 
the  body.  All  that  we  know  of  human  life  is  in 
connection  with  bod}'.  Life  in  this  world  is  in- 
e\dtably  bound  to  body.  But  death  dissolves 
body,  —  how  then  can  life  continue  ? 

Considering  these  two  facts,  (1)  that  we  know 
nothing  of  the  continued  existence  of  those  who 
have  left  us,  and  (2)  that  we  know  of  no  life 
here  except  in  connection  with  body,  it  is  not 
at  all  wonderful  that  men  should  have  hesitated 
in  accepting  a  future  existence.  But  what  is 
wonderful,  and  very  wonderful,  is  that,  in  face 
of  these  two  facts,  the  immense  majority  of  man- 
kind should  yet  have  believed  in  immortality. 
This  faith  is  a  most  amazing  phenomenon,  and  is 


BELIEF  IN  A   FUTURE  EXISTENCE.        131 

to  be  accounted  for.  Am  I  told  that  the  wish 
is  father  to  the  thought?  that  men  believe  in  a 
future  life  because  the^-  desire  a  future  life?  I 
replj^  that  this  mereh'  changes  the  form  of  the 
wonder.  We  then  ask,  Wh}'  do  men  ivish  to  live 
hereafter,  if  there  is  no  hereafter?  If  all  the}^ 
know  and  love  is  here,  whv  this  universal  wish  for 
a  continued  existence  in  some  unknown  world? 
As  Shelley  sa^'s  :  — 

Tliis  eartli  is  the  nurse  of  all  we  know, 
This  eartli  is  tlie  mother  of  all  we  feel, 

And  the  coming  of  death  is  a  dreadful  blow 
To  a  brain  imencompassed  by  nerves  of  steel, 

When  all  that  we  know,  and  feel,  and  see, 

Shall  pass,  like  an  unreal  mystery  ! 

If,  in  spite  of  all  the  reasons  for  doubt,  in  spite 
of  our  ignorance  concerning  the  future  world,  — 
there  is  a  universal  instinct  in  man  to  believe  in 
such  a  world,  —  this  instinctive  belief  is  itself  a 
proof  that  we  are  to  live  again.  Ever}^  other 
instinct  has  its  appropriate  object.  There  is  an 
instinctive  desire  for  food,  and  food  is  provided  ; 
an  instinctive  longing  for  knowledge,  and  knowl- 
edge is  given ;  an  instinctive  jo}^  in  beaut}^,  and 
beauty  is  shed  over  the  world ;  an  instinctive 
social  tendency,  and  societ}'-  is  here  ;  an  instinct 


132       BELIEF  JX  A  FUTURE  EXISTENCE. 

for  construction  and  art,  and  the  means  of  exer- 
cising this  are  given.  If,  therefore,  there  is 
l)hinted  in  man  an  instinctive  longing  for  im- 
mortality,—  universal,  constant,  permanent.  — 
we  may  be  sure  that  God  provides  an  existence 
to  satisfy-  such  a  longing. 

As  to  the  diflSculty  arising  from  the  fact  that 
bodil}'  organization  is  necessary  to  all  life  here,  — 
we  see  that,  in  spite  of  this,  men  have  iisualty 
believed  in  a  soul  which  may  exist  independently 
of  the  body.  The  belief  in  ghosts,  just  referred 
to,  is  evidence  of  this.  A  ghost  is  assumed  to  be 
a  being  without  a  bodv,  yet  capable  of  thought, 
action,  speech;  capable  of  being  seen,  of  moving 
to  and  fro,  of  continued  personal  identity.  In 
short,  it  is  a  soul  existent  witliout  the  bodil}" 
organization.  Xow,  there  either  are  ghosts,  or 
there  are  no  ghosts.  If  ghosts  exist,  then  evi- 
dently the  soul  ma}'  exist  without  the  bod}'.  But 
if  there  are  no  ghosts,  then  mankind  has  always 
believed  it  possible  for  souls  to  exist  without  the 
bod}',  though  they  have  no  proof  of  it.  This, 
therefore,  must  be  an  instinctive  belief,  and,  like 
all  other  instincts,  has  something  in  reality  corre- 
sponding to  it.  If,  though  there  have  never  been 
any  ghosts,  men  have  always  believed  in  ghosts, 


BELIEF  IN  A   FUTURE   EXISTEXCE.        133 

it  proves  that  there  is  something  within  ns  which 
feels  itself  capable  of  existing  without  the  body. 
And  such  a  consciousness  can  hardh'  be  explained 
except  b}'  assuming  the  realit}^  of  such  a  soul, 
which,  using  the  bod}'  but  as  the  means  of  com- 
municating with  this  world,  is  capable  of  existing 
in  some  other  way  hereafter. 

The  first  reason  for  believing  in  immortalit}'  is 
that  we  are  made  to  believe  in  it.  There  is  no 
better  evidence  than  that  a  belief  accords  with 
human  nature.  But,  beside  this,  is  the  fact  that 
our  confidence  in  immortality  increases  as  we 
have  more  and  higher  life.  In  a  low  condition 
of  our  existence,  death  is  the  ''king  of  terrors." 
But  as  man  becomes  more  alive  in  mind,  heart, 
spirit,  death  loses  its  sting  and  the  grave  its  vic- 
tory. This  is  one  way  in  which  Christ  has  abol- 
ished death,  —  b}-  making  the  human  soul  more 
full  of  life.  This  is  one  wa}',  and  his  resurrection 
is  another.  It  is  a  fact,  explain  it  as  you  will, 
that  the  disciples  of  Jesus  were  emancipated  from 
all  fear  of  death.  The?/  explained  this  phenome- 
non b}'  saying  that  the}'  had  not  only  seen  their 
Master  alive,  after  his  crucifixion,  but  also  arisen, 
ascended,  gone  into  a  higher  world  ;  from  which, 
nevertheless,  he  came  to  encourage  them.     It  is 


1;J4     bkli::f  jx  a  future  kkistence. 

often  said  that  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  is  the 
gr^at  miracle  of  Christianity'.  But  I  believe  its 
power  consisted  in  its  '^lot  being  a  miracle,  but  a 
revelation  to  the  disciples  of  what  was  to  come  to 
them  all.  All  were  to  rise,  as  Jesus  rose.  They 
saw  that,  instead  of  death  being  a  descent  into  a 
dark  under- world,  it  was  an  ascent  into  a  world 
of  higher  life  and  larger  light.  The  power  of  the 
resurrection  for  the  disciples  was  that  it  bridged 
the  gulf  between  this  life  and  the  next,  and 
showed  them  Jesus  gone  up  to  glor}-,  victor}',  and 
heaven.  And  the  power  of  Christ's  resurrec- 
tion to  us  is  that  the  faith  in  a  continuance  and 
ascent  of  being  has  been  transmitted  in  the  church 
as  a  permanent  possession,  tanght  us  in  our  in- 
fanc}',  breathed  in  with  the  verv  air  around  us, 
and  reinforcing  the  original  instinct  of  immor- 
tality. 

I  am  not  one  of  those  who  refuse  to  the  lower 
animals  all  hope  of  continued  existence.  I  believe 
it  ver}^  possible  that  the  living  principle  in  the 
animal  may  be  capable  of  development  into  some 
higher  modes  of  existence  after  the  death  of  the 
body.  The  reason  wh}'  immortalitv  is  usuall}^ 
denied  to  animals  is  that  their  lives  seem  to  be 
complete  here.     They  have,  apparenth',  no  unex- 


BELIEF  IX  A   FUTURE  EXISTENCE.        135 

hausted  capacities.  The  lower  races  of  men  are 
like  animals  in  this,  that  the}'  also  manifest  few 
tendencies  reaching  bej'ond  their  present  life. 
But,  as  man's  sonl  is  developed  by  knowledge 
and  culture,  this  surprising  phenomenon  appears, 
that  while  his  body  grows  old  and  deca3-s  his 
mind  continues  to  advance.  The  bodih'  life  is 
limited  to  seventy  or  eighty  3'ears,  —  then  it  must 
decay,  and  at  last  perish.  But  no  such  limitation 
applies  to  the  soul.  The  mind  of  Michel  Angelo 
at  sixty-seven  accomplished  one  of  his  greatest 
works,  and  at  ninety  his  powers  were  in  full  ac- 
tivit}'.  Milton  finished  and  published  "The 
Paradise  Lost"  only  a  few  years  before  his  death. 
The  mists  of  age  naay  indeed  dim  the  radiance  of 
the  soul,  as  clouds  collect  around  the  setting  sun ; 
but  occasional  gleams  of  glory  show  that  the 
power  is  there,  though  partially  hidden.  These 
inexhausted  and  seemingly  inexhaustible  capaci- 
ties are  a  sign  that  we  are  intended  for  further 
being.  Problems  open  before  the  mind  which 
the  mind  is  incapable  of  solving  in  this  world. 
These  prophesy  some  other  state  where  they  can 
be  comprehended.  The  undying  affection  of  the 
human  heart  for  the  loved  and  lost  reaches  be^'ond 
the  grave,  and  as&ures  us  of  some  future  reunion. 


l;3G       BELIEF  IN  A   FUTURE  EXISTENCE. 

When  the  reason  is  nnal)le  to  prove  an  immortal- 
ity, the  heart  asserts  it  on  the  evidence  of  its  own 
imperishable  love. 

The  word  "indenture"  came  from  the  old  cus- 
tom of  cutting  a  parchment  contract  into  two 
pieces ;  divided,  not  by  a  straight  line,  but  by  a 
jagged  one,  marked  with  indentations^  each  party 
to  the  contract  retaining  one  piece.  If  we  were 
to  see  such  a  parchment,  with  the  lines  thus 
abrupth'  cut  asunder,  we  should  infer  from  their 
incomplete  sense  that  there  was  somewhm-e  an- 
other piece,  which  would  make  the  meaning  entire 
and  intelligible.  The  mind  of  man,  in  this  world, 
is  such  an  incomplete  parchment.  Intellectual 
questions  are  roused,  which  cannot  be  answered. 
Moral  difficulties  appear,  which  are  left  unsettled. 
He  has  longings  and  aspirations  for  a  good  and 
a  beaut}'  which  this  w^orld  cannot  supply.  He 
sees  all  around  him  inequalities  and  apparent  in- 
justice ;  the  triumph  of  evil,  the  defeat  of  good- 
ness ;  bad  men  in  power,  patriots  in  exile,  — 

Truth  for  ever  on    the    scattbld,    wrong   for  ever  on  tlie 
throne  ; 

the  false  priest  surrounded  with  admiration,  the 
true  prophet  despised  and  rejected  of  men.     Of 


BELIEF   IN  A   FUTURE   EXISTENCE.        137 

the  child  of  genius,  born  under  inhospitable  au- 
spices, how  often  it  must  be  said  that  — 

"  He  came,  and  baring  his  heaven-bright  thouglit, 
He  earned  the  base  worhl's  ban  ; 
And,  having  vainly  lived  and  taught, 
Gave  place  to  a  meaner  man." 

If  this  life  were  the  Avhole,  all  such  inequalities 
and  discords  would  be  inexplicable.  In  all  ages, 
therefore,  the  conscience  of  man,  no  less  than  his 
reason  and  his  heart,  has  predicted  a  future  state, 
where  the  wrong  should  be  made  right,  the  tri- 
umphant falsehood  exposed,  injured  innocence  be 
vindicated,  and  the  righteous  judgments  of  God 
made  known.  The  conscience  does  not  so  much 
demand  retribution  on  the  wrong-doer  as  vindica- 
tion of  justice  and  right.  It  predicts  a  revelation 
of  truth  and  the  exposure  of  lies. 

I  have  seen  a  little  infant  die,  —  one  just  come 
into  the  world.  As  3'et  it  had  developed  no  char- 
acter ;  it  had  no  conscious  intelhgence  ;  it  was 
nothing  but  a  promise,  —  an  expectation.  But 
that  promise,  that  faint  prophecy'  of  a  coming- 
future,  had  so  taken  hold  of  its  mother's  heart  that 
the  loss  of  her  infant  nearly  drove  her  to  despair. 
But  that  infant  was  God's  child  too ;  more  the 
child  of  God  than  of  its  earthly'  parent,  for  God 


138       BELIEF  IN  A   FUTURE   EXISTENCE. 

himself  had  sent  this  bud  of  hope  into  the  world. 
And  shall  the  heart  of  the  earthly  father  and 
mother  cling  thus  to  their  darling,  and  the  heart 
of  the  heavenly  Father  let  it  go  for  ever  into 
emptiness  and  annihilation?  Shall  we,  who  have 
so  little  power  over  its  destin3\  struggle  and  or}' 
and  pray,  and  use  all  means  to  save  it,  and  he 
who  holds  it  in  the  hollow  of  his  hand  let  it  slip 
into  an  abyss  of  destruction  ?  No  !  this  yearning 
of  ours  for  our  loved  ones  is  onh'  a  faint,  far-off 
shadow  of  that  Infinite  love  which  envelops  them 
and  us,  now  and  for  ever. 

I  know  very  well  what  materiaUsm  replies  to  all 
this.  It  tells  me  that  hfe,  thought,  love,  are  mere 
results  of  organization  ;  that,  when  the  organiza- 
tion perishes,  these  of  necessitj'  go  too.  A  drop 
of  blood  in  the  human  brain  will  put  an  end  to 
the  aspiration  of  the  saint ;  the  lesion  of  a  nerve 
destroy  the  courage  of  a  hero.  The  poet's  aye^ 
rolling  in  a  fine  frenzy,  turns  from  heaven  to  earth, 
from  earth  to  heaven.  He  is  on  the  point  of  cre- 
ating a  Hamlet  or  the  Iliad :  a  little  congestion 
of  serous  fluid  arrests  the  conception,  and  it  is 
gone  for  ever.  True.  The  body,  while  we  \\\o.  in 
it,  is  the  indispensable  condition  of  our  activitv. 
But  it  does  not  follow  that  we  are  the  result  of  the 


BELIEF  IN  A  FUTURE  EXISTENCE.        139 

body.  Kafaelle.  while  paintins:  the  Dresden  Ma- 
donna, might  have  been  stopped  by  some  trilling 
defect  in  his  brushes,  or  his  oils,  or  his  canvas. 
But  that  does  not  prove  that  Rafaelle  himself  was 
the  result  of  his  implements.  The  body  is  the 
organization  which,  in  this  world,  the  soul  uses,  — 
without  it.  it  is  helpless.  But  that  does  not  prove 
that  the  soul  is  the  result  of  its  organization. 

I  have  seen,  in  this  city,  great  crowds  collect  to 
follow  the  body  of  some  eminent  person  to  the 
grave.  So  it  was  when  John  Andrew  died,  so 
when  Charles  Sumner  died.  The  sense  of  a  great 
loss  fell  upon  the  city.  Business  ceased  ;  the 
huny  of  hfe  was,  for  one  hour,  suspended.  The 
whole  community  stood  around  these  remains, 
once  inhabited  b}^  a  patriotic  soul.  And  shall 
we,  creatures  of  a  day,  thus  mourn  the  loss  of 
our  human  brother,  —  and  shall  the  Infinite  Love 
dismiss  him  into  the  night  and  void  of  annihi- 
lation ? 

One  of  the  last  great  discoveries  of  science  is 
that  of  the  conservation  of  force.  So  economical 
is  nature  that  she  never  lets  go  one  atom  of  mat- 
ter, one  molecule  of  organized  being,  or  one  unit 
of  power.  All  is  changed,  nothing  is  lost  in  the 
creation.     But  here  is  a  soul,  the  orreatest  force 


UO       BELIEF  IN  A   FUTURE  EXIST EXCE. 

of  all,  the  fine  result  of  a  long  series  of  develop- 
ments ;  a  soul  capable  of  thought,  of  love,  of 
intellectual  creation.  It  is  the  soul  of  Newton, 
able  to  read  the  laws  of  the  universe  ;  the  soul  of 
Fenelon,  reaching  a  height  of  disinterested  love 
which  makes  it  like  the  seraph  near  God's  throne  ; 
the  soul  of  Homer,  whose  song  fills  the  world  with 
music  during  twenty-five  centuries.  And  do  you 
tell  me  that,  while  not  a  particle  of  carbon  or 
h3-drogeD  can  escape  the  omnipotent  conservatism 
of  the  Almight}',  he  will  allow  such  powers  as 
these  to  be  resolved  back  into  nothing?  With 
the  religious  man,  this  argument  is  all-sufficient. 
When  we  come  to  see  God  as  a  father  and  friend, 
death  is  abolished.  We  know  that  we  can  trust 
him  with  our  life,  and  the  lives  of  those  dear  to  us, 
always.  Therefore,  the  early  Christians,  hiding 
from  the  rage  of  their  persecutors  in  the  dark 
caves  beneath  imperial  Rome,  laid  their '  dead 
away,  and  wrote  over  them  inscriptions  full  of 
hope,  love,  and  joy  :  "  My  dear  Caius  sleeps  here." 
"  Rest  in  peace,  my  Theodora."  This  same  trust 
has  come  down  through  all  the  intervening  ages, 
and  is  ours  to-day.  Now,  as  always,  faith 
\  overcomes  death,  and  wins  the  victory  from  the 
gi'ave. 


BELIEF  IN  A  FUTURE  EXISTENCE.       141 

The  greatest  impulse  yet  given  to  belief  in  im- 
mortality has  come  from  the  divine  trust  of  Jesus 
in  God  as  the  Universal  Father,  — the  Father  of 
the  evil  as  well  as  of  the  good,  —  whose  sun  shines 
and  whose  rain  falls  on  the  grateful  and  on  the 
unthankful.  This  relation  of  the  father  to  the 
child  is  a  tie  which  death  may  not  sever.  It  goes 
below  all  distinction  of  character,  of  capacity,  of 
worth.  The  father  and  mother  do  not  love  their 
child  l)ecause  it  is  full  of  power  and  promise,  full 
of  affection  and  goodness,  hut  because  it  is  their 
child.  The  pit}'  of  their  hearts  accumulates  the 
more  around  the  weakest,  the  least  attractive  of 
their  children  ;  the  poor  thing  l3orn  with  an  irrita- 
ble temper,  a  weak  purpose,  or  some  inherited 
tendency  to  evil.  And  when  the  feeble  infant, 
worn  out  with  disease,  at  last  lies  in  its  little 
grave,  the  parents'  love  goes  with  it  still.  Long 
years  after,  that  undying  love  holds  the  lost  child 
in  fadeless  memory.  If,  then,  these  poor  hearts 
of  ours  cannot  forget  our  children,  does  the  Infi- 
nite Heart  of  the  universe  cease  to  remember 
them  ?  If  we  do  not  love  them  less  because  of 
their  weaknesses  and  incapacity,  how  much  more 
shall  the  Father  of  their  spirits  look  down  on 
them  with  inexhaustible  love.     Sav  not  that  his 


142       BELIEF  IN  A    FUTURE  EXISTENCE. 

iiifiiiite  tenderness  can  be  exhausted  by  their  sin, 
when  ours,  so  much  poorer,  does  not  grow  faint 
\  nor  wear3\  If  we  must  forgive  our  brother,  not 
I  seven  times,  but  seventy  times  seven,  when  shall 
\  an  Infinite  mere}'  grow  unrelenting  and  implaca- 
ble ?  Our  reason  and  conscience  are  disturbed  by 
incompleteness  and  discord  in  this  little  world; 
shall  the  Perfect  Ivcason  permit  an  everlasting 
discord,  an  eternal  hell  of  sin  and  misery  to  con- 
tinue, unconquered  by  his  love,  unredeemed  by  his 
gospel,  for  ever?  Jesus  himself  has  taught  us 
this  mode  of  reasoning,  by  analog}',  from  the  poor 
love  of  earthh'  parents  to  the  vaster  tenderness 
of  the  heavenh'  Father.  The  o\\\y  argument  Jesus 
ever  used  against  the  Sadducees  in  defence  of 
immortality  is  founded  on  this  high  conception 
■  of  the  fatherly  character  of  God.  If  he  calls 
himself  the  God  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob, 
then  they  must  Hve  ;  for  whatever  belongs  to  him 
cannot  die.  If  he  is  not  willing  that  any  should 
perish,  then  no  one  can  perish.  Evil  must  be 
overcome  at  last  b}'  good ;  death  must  be  swal- 
lowed up  in  life.  Thus  alone  can  God  become 
all  in  all,  the  sorereign  of  the  universe.  Finite 
evil,  if  it  ends  in  infinite  good,  ceases  to  be  evil ; 
for  the  finite,  compared  with  the  infinite,  is  noth- 


BELIEF  IX  A  FUTURE  EXISTENCE.        143 

ing.  But,  if  finite  eyil  ends  in  eternal  evil,  tlien 
evil  reigns  h\  the  side  of  good,  sharing  the  uni- 
verse ;  and  God  can  never  be  the  All-in- AU.  But 
Jesus  and  Paul  have  taught  us  that  all  men  are  to 
be  drawn  to  Christ,  and  all  are  to  be  made  aMve 
in  him.  AVhen  this  final  consummation  arrives, 
then  all  doubts  will  be  answered,  difficulties  ex- 
plained, problems  solved,  and  partial  evil  be  seen 
as  universal  good. 

And  now,  if  3'ou  ask,  ''What  do  we  know 
about  the  other  life?"  we  must  repl}'  that  we 
know  very  little  about  it.  It  is  evident  that  we 
are  not  intended  to  know  much.  Perhaps  it 
would  take  our  thoughts  too  far  away  from  our 
duties  here.  This  is  our  sphere  while  we  remain 
in  it.  If  we  were  able  to  look  into  the  gTeat 
world  beyond,  we  might  repine  at  being  obUged 
to  remain  in  this  so  long.  Just  as  God  has 
placed  gi-eat  gulfs  of  space  between  the  planets, 
so  that  the  inhabitants  of  each  shall  onh'  know 
the  afi'airs  of  its  own  globe,  he  has  placed  a  gulf 
between  this  world  and  the  future  life.  Thus, 
he  makes  it  our  dut}'  to  think,  not  of  dving.  but 
of  living ;  not  of  the  hereafter,  but  of  the  here  ; 
not  of  the  world  to  come,  but  of  the  world  that  is. 
Every  da}'  we  are  to  prepare,  not  for  death,  but 


144       BELIEF  IX  A    FUTURE   EXISTENCE. 

for  lite  ;  for.  if  we  live  well  and  wisely  here,  we 
may  certainly  trust  God  as  to  our  hereafter. 

This,  however.  I  think  we  may  say,  that  death, 
when  it  comes,  must  be  considered  not  a  bad 
thing,  but  a  good  thing.  Since  the  Almighty 
sends  death  to  every  one  of  his-  creatures  to  whom 
he  has  given  life,  since  death  is  as  universal  as 
life,  death  must  be  a  blessing  as  well  as  life.  It 
is  a  part  of  the  same  scheme,  it  is  a  step  forward, 
only  another  phase  of  living.  Some  great  advan- 
tage must  be  connected  with  this  event  which  we 
call  death.  It  is  made  fearful  when  we  look  for- 
ward to  it  from  a  distance,  that  we  may  not  too 
rashly  seek  it.  before  we  have  had  enough  of  the 
discipline  of  this  world.  But  when  it  comes  it 
usually  is  welcome  ;  and  it  may  be  that,  when  we 
look  back  upon  it  from  the  other  world,  w^e  shall 
smile  to  think  that  we  should  ever  have  been 
afraid  of  it. 

This  also  we  know  of  the  other  world :  That  it 
is  created  l)y  the  same  Being  who  has  made  this 
world  ;  it  is  another  mansion  in  the  house  of  our 
Father.  Consider,  then,  what  he  has  done  for  us 
here,  if  j'ou  wish  to  know  what  he  will  do  for  us 
there.  If  there  is  infinite  variety  in  this  world,  — 
day  and  night,  sleep  and  waking,   changing  sea- 


BELIEF  IN  A   FUTURE  EXISTENCE.        145 

sons,  flowers  and  trees,  lakes  and  rivers,  moiui- 
taius  and  plains,  —  a  vast  flora  and  fauna,  —  then 
there  will,  no  doubt,  be  an  equal  or  a  greater 
variet}-  there  ;  for  surelv  the  Creator  has  not  ex- 
hausted himself  in  making  this  world.  There,  as 
here,  there  will  be  beauty  for  the  eye  and  ear ; 
problems  for  the  intellect  to  investigate  ;  work  to 
do,  full  of  utihty ;  society-,  intercourse,  affection ; 
the  power  of  progress,  the  sight  of  goodness  and 
greatness  above  us  to  aspire  to  and  reverence. 
There  will  be  enough  to  know,  enough  to  do,  and 
enough  to  love.  Perhaps  we  shall  enter  more 
into  the  interior  life  of  nature,  understand  more 
of  its  mysteries,  and  come  nearer  to  the  working 
of  the  creative  power  whose  plastic  force  flows 
through  all  things. 

The  conception  of  heaven  which  has  prevailed, 
as  a  paradise  of  delight,  a  garden  of  all  enjo}^- 
ments,  is  not  hkely  to  be  realized.  Such  a 
heaven  as  this  would  soon  become  tiresome. 
Passive  enjoyment  is  not  what  God  intends  for 
us.  He  educates  us  here  b}'  stern  necessit}^  to 
toil;  he  teaches  us  caution,  prudence,  industr}', 
by  a  sharp  discipline  ;  and  it  is  probable  that 
something  of  this  kind  of  education  ma}^  be  con- 
tinued hereafter.  One  of  the  great  blessings  of 
10 


146       BELIEF  IN  A   FUTURE  EXISTENCE. 

this  present  life  is  the  sense  of  progress,  of  im- 
provement. And  as  we  are  told  that  ' '  hope 
abides,"  as  well  as  faith  and  love,  there  will  be 
always  before  ns  some  new  vision  of  beaut^^,  truth, 
and  love  to  wliich  to  aspire.  There,  as  here, 
heaven  will  greatlj^  consist  in  forgetting-  the  things 
behind  and  reaching  out  to  those  that  are  be- 
fore ;  in  perpetual  ascent  toward  the  Great  Source 
of  all  being.  There  is  onl}'  one  ):>lace  in  the 
New  Testament  where  any  thing  is  told  us  con- 
cerning the  mode  of  existence  hereafter,  and  that 

,  is  by  Paul  in  his  chapter  on  the  resurrection.  In 
that  wonderful  passage,  where  he  seems  to  pass 

I  the  flaming  bounds  of  space  and  time  ;  after  assur- 
ing us  that  redemption  will  be  coextensive  with 
sin,  he  goes  on  to  describe  the  end,  when  Jesus, 
having  subdued  all  evil,  shall  give  up  the  kingdom 
to  the  Father,  to  whom  he  himself  shall  be  sul)ject 
and  subordinate.  He  lifts,  for  a  moment,  the 
corner  of  the  veil  which  hangs  between  this  life 
and  the  next,  and  allows  us  a  ghmpse  into  those 
diviner  mansions  of  our  Father's  great  building, 
the  universe.  He  goes  on  to  unfold  what  was 
before  secret,  and  thus  virtually  gives  us  a  new 
revelation  in  regard  to  the  future  life.  There  will 
be  bodies,  he  says,  there  as  here,  only  of  a  higher 


BELIEF  JN  A   FUTURE  EXISTENCE.        147 

kind  than  these, — more  spiritual,  more  powerful, 
more  glorious,  incorruptible.  Those  bodies  will 
possess  faculties  to  ns  now  unknown.  The}^  will 
furnish  means  to  the  soul  of  much  keener  penetra- 
tion into  nature,  fuller  communication  with  other 
minds,  and  far  nobler  intercourse  with  the  angelic 
societies.  And  this  is  what  we  might  expect. 
All  ilfe  progress  here.  Every  3'ear  brings  us  some 
new^  invention.  We  can  now  converse  with  friends 
across  the  Atlantic,  call  on  the  sun  to  paint  por- 
traits and  landscapes,  and  w^ith  a  little  prism  of 
glass  find  out  the  chemistr}^  of  the  sun  and  the 
stars.  A  few  ^ears  ago  all  this  would  be  regarded 
as  an  impossibility  or  as  a  miracle.  In  a  future 
hfe,  we  may  expect  to  find  far  greater  manifesta- 
tions of  the  power  of  the  advancing  soul  to  use 
the  laws  of  the  universe  for  its  ends,  and  to  pene- 
trate m3'steries  of  being  stranger  than  an}'  thing 
hitherto  known.  The  great  law  of  all  existence 
is  progress,  —  progress  accelerated  as  we  ascend 
nearer  to  God.  Knowledge  shall  pass  away, 
resolved  into  higher  knowledge.  Earthlj^  inter- 
ests, which  now  seem  so  vast,  will  by  and  by 
appear  as  the  toys  of  childhood.  We  shall  look 
back  from  a  higher  world  on  our  present  civiliza- 
tion, and  on  our  present  Christianit}^,  as  we  now 


148       BELIEF  IN  A   FUTURE  EXISTENCE. 

look  back  on  the  monstrous  strife  and  perturba- 
tion of  past  geologic  ages.  We  maj"  seem  to  our- 
selves hereafter  as  the  Saurians  and  Trilobites 
seem  to  us  now.  But  through  all  change,  within 
all  progress,  something  will  for  ever  abide.  Faith 
will  abide.  We  shall  carry  with  us  into  all 
worlds  the  same  essential  trust  in  the  Infinite  love 
which  sustains  us  now.  Hope  will  abide.  For, 
whatever  heights  of  being  we  ma}'  ascend,  what- 
ever depths  of  experience  we  ma}'  explore,  there 
will  ever  open  before  us  new  vistas  of  knowledge, 
activitv,  and  joy.  And  love  will  abide,  —  the  same, 
but  better.  Love,  uniting  us  with  God  and  all 
his  creatures,  lifting  us  into  communion  with  all 
goodness  in  all  worlds ;  love  making  us,  and 
keeping  us,  at  one  with  God  for  ever  and  for  ever. 

"  And  so,  beside  the  silent  sea, 
I  wait  the  muffled  oar ; 
No  harm  from  him  can  come  to  me, 
On  ocean  or  on  shore." 


Cambridge :  Press  of  John  Wilson  &  Son. 


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